Federal Investigation Turns up Bondage Items in Storage Unit
Gaylord Herald-Time
A former downstate Christian radio station host who was arrested on criminal sexual conduct charges June 20 at the Big Ticket Festival in Gaylord has been denied bond. John Balyo, 35, of Caledonia, was arraigned in Calhoun County’s 10th District Court Monday on one count each of first degree criminal sexual conduct and second degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges are punishable by up to life in prison and up to 15 years in prison, respectively. Federal investigators confirmed that on June 20, items which could be used for bondage, including handcuffs, duct tape, rope, zip ties and socks, were found in a Plainfield Township storage unit, rented out by Balyo. Plainfield Township is located approximately 10 miles north of Grand Rapids. The judge hearing the case granted a prosecutor’s office request to deny bond in the case, which has been set for a preliminary examination at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, July 7. Balyo was planning to hire an attorney to represent him, Calhoun County Prosecuting Attorney David Gilbert said. Balyo was arrested by officers from the Michigan State Police and Homeland Security at around 11:30 a.m. June 20, according to the Battle Creek Police Department. According to a press release by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Balyo allegedly paid a man, who is the subject of a separate Homeland Security investigation, to arrange sexual encounters with minor victims. Khaalid Walls, public affairs officer with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Detroit, said the reason federal officials were involved in Balyo’s arrest was because part of the agency’s responsibility is to investigate child exploitation cases and Balyo’s case grew out of an existing federal investigation. Walls said the reason officers arrested Balyo at the festival in Gaylord was because the state charges were authorized on June 20 and, because of the seriousness of the charges and the fact that officers knew Balyo’s whereabouts, they wanted to move quickly to arrest him. Walls said Balyo was arrested without incident and noted that officers tried to make the arrest as discretely as possible to minimize disruption to the music festival. He said there are no federal charges pending against Balyo at this time. Balyo was a radio host for WCSG in Grand Rapids. The station announced Saturday that it ended its affiliation with Balyo, according to Chris Lemke, WCSG general manager. The station is owned by Cornerstone University. Steve Zucker of the Petoskey News-Review and Mark Johnson and Jeremy Speer of the Gaylord Herald Times contributed to this story.
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