Christian radio host John Balyo operated beneath the radar as a married family man, a wedding photographer, a volunteer with the Kent County Sheriff's Department, camp counselor and an overseas mission volunteer with children.
Underneath the surface, the expectant father was "a wolf in sheep's clothing'' feeding a morbid and sadistic fascination with children, collecting pedophilic materials, rehearsing a sexual kidnapping fantasy with a child-sized mannequin and meeting clandestinely in hotel rooms with young boys in bondage.
The secret life of the 36-year-old Caledonia man was laid bare Thursday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids in an emotional sentencing hearing that all but assures Balyo will be an old man when he gets out of prison.
He'll serve 40 years in federal prison – on top of a lengthy sentence handed down last month in Calhoun County for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. His wife of seven months was granted a divorce just three weeks ago. And Balyo's assets will go to support his unborn child, who is due in February or March.
"I'm having a lot of trouble trying to reconcile two people in the orange jump suit before me,'' Judge Robert Holmes Bell told Balyo during the sentencing hearing. "There's the Christian man with a reputation as a value-driven individual. But there is something else going on that is troubling... filthy, obscene. I don't get it. I don't get where you went off.''
Bell ordered Balyo to serve 25 years for sexual exploitation of a child and 15 years for possession of child pornography, with the terms to run consecutive.
He also asked Balyo to write him at least once a year. "Don't whitewash me,'' said Bell, father of bestselling Christian author and Pastor Rob Bell. "I want to know what books you're reading and what you're doing to help other people.''
Prosecutors call John Balyo a "wolf in sheep's clothing.''
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