A former legislative assistant who worked in the state Capitol has been sentenced to five years in federal prison without parole for a federal pornography charge.
The case of Carter Ballmann, 25, of Jefferson City, had been moved from Cole County Circuit Court to federal court.
Ballmann pleaded guilty in February and was sentenced Friday.
Ballmann pleaded guilty to one count of attempted receipt of child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney's Office officials. He has been detained in federal custody since his guilty plea.
A federal grand jury indicted Ballmann in May 2018, according to court documents.
The court recommended Ballmann be incarcerated as close to the Northern District of Florida as possible at a facility where he can receive a sex offender treatment program.
The investigation leading to his arrest began after Ballmann responded to a post in April 2018 made by an undercover decoy from the Boone County Sheriff's Department Cyber Crimes Task Force who was masquerading as a 14-year-old girl.
The department reported the decoy and Ballmann had exchanged online messages in which he had requested the girl sneak out of her home and provide him with nude pictures.
Officers in the task force served a search warrant at Ballmann's Jefferson City residence and took him into custody at the Capitol, where he worked as a legislative assistant in the office of former state Rep. Mark Matthiesen, R-Maryland Heights. Ballmann was terminated from his legislative job after his arrest.