CANTON, S.D. — The former chair of the Jones County Republicans will not serve prison time after he was convicted of possessing child pornography.
A Lincoln County judge on Tuesday, Nov. 26, sentenced 49-year-old Rocky Hayes, of Sioux Falls, to serve 120 days in county jail and four years of probation after he pleaded nolo contendere (no contest) to possessing child pornography. A 10-year prison sentence was suspended on the condition that he serve his time in county jail and probation without incident.
The case against Hayes stemmed from a January 2023 CyberTip, when an employee of DropBox, a file-hosting service, reported that Hayes’ account contained a 16-second video file that appeared to depict an adult male raping a child that investigators estimated was 9-12 years old.
Using the IP address as evidence, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation was able to obtain a warrant to search Hayes’ DropBox account and home, which is adjacent to Harrisburg Endeavor Elementary School. During the warrant, authorities say they located additional files that were deemed to be child pornography.
After he was charged in January 2023, Hayes entered a plea of no contest in June 2024.
Since his arrest on Jan. 24, various websites and social media accounts for Hayes and his business, Didactic Productions, have all been set to private or otherwise removed.
Web archives from Nov. 4, 2020, show Hayes served as the chair of the Jones County Republicans at that time. It’s unclear how long he held the position.
The Trust Project
