Man Arrested in Undercover Sting by Georgia Police

A local man in Cobb County has been arrested for allegedly attempting to seduce and entice who he thought was a 14-year-old girl online.

According to reports, the man was actually conversing with an undercover police officer. He attempted to set up a meeting with her as well as sent her a photograph of his genitalia.

There is a section of offenses within the category of sex crimes in Georgia. These offenses include internet sex crimes in Georgia. As a Georgia Sex Crimes Attorney, I will outline one of the laws behind an offense in that category in today's post as to better show what the man in the story above is facing legally.

Obscene Internet Contact with a Minor

Obscene Internet Contact with a Minor in Georgia is defined in O.C.G.A. § 16-12-100.2(e)(1) as:

 A person commits the offense of obscene Internet contact with a child if he or she has contact with someone he or she knows to be a child or with someone he or she believes to be a child via a computer online service or Internet service, including but not limited to a local bulletin board service, Internet chat room, e-mail, or on-line messaging service, and the contact involves any matter containing explicit verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexually explicit nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse that is intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual desire of either the child or the person, provided that no conviction shall be had for a violation of this subsection on the unsupported testimony of a child.

Obscene internet contact involves contacting a minor through email, chat rooms, or other forms of online social networking with the purpose of enticing the minor to commit sexual acts.

It is important to note that no physical act has to happen for a crime to have occurred. A person could be convicted just for for their words to a child. A person who violates this statute will be guilty of a felony and will be punished by a prison term between one and ten years and a fine of no more than $10,000.

However, if the victim was 14 or 15 years old and the defendant was no more than three years older than the victim, then the accused will be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.

Practice Note

Call our offices now if you have been arrested in the state of Georgia.