A Sumner County judge has handed down a 438-year prison sentence to a Hendersonville man convicted of multiple child sexual abuse charges Tuesday.
According to the office of Thomas Dean, District Attorney General for Sumner County, Tennessee, Matthew Cody Ball, 36, was sentenced following a March jury conviction on charges including continuous sexual abuse of a child, nine counts of rape of a child, aggravated sexual battery, rape, and statutory rape by an authority figure.
Ball was arrested in 2024 by Hendersonville PD Detective Jim Bachman after an investigation into complaints made by a 10-year-old girl that Ball had been touching her inappropriately. During a forensic interview at Ashley’s Place, the victim gave a graphic disclosure of sexual abuse carried out against her by Ball over a 6 year period, beginning when she was just 4 years old. After Ball’s arrest, other children came forward to report similar abuse perpetrated on them by Ball, whose crimes occured over a roughly 13- year period in Sumner, Davidson, and Dickson Counties as well as Texas. During yesterday’s hearing, Generals Nichols and Sewell presented evidence about Ball’s sexual abuse of two additional victims who were unable to participate in the original trial, bringing the total number of known victims to 6.
In imposing Ball’s 438-year sentence, Judge Nichols cited his extensive criminal history, the nature and scope of the acts of sexual abuse perpetrated on the victims, the lasting damage his conduct caused to the victims, and the position of trust he occupied in their lives.
Under Tennessee law, Ball’s sentence will be served without the possibility of parole or early release. He will also be required to register as a violent sex offender and was sentenced to community supervision for life.
Ball’s sentence is the longest short of life without parole which has been imposed in a child sexual abuse case in Sumner County history. Ball was not eligible for life without parole or the death penalty due to the time frame during which his offenses were committed.
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