Repeat Sex Offender Arrested by Undercover Roswell Officer

Roswell City Hall

Roswell, Ga. – An undercover officer with the Roswell Police Department has made national headlines for a case that he investigated that resulted in the conviction of a repeat sex offender.

The man has been convicted of distribution of child pornography, attempted enticement of a child, and transfer of obscene material to a minor. All of these charges are in federal court, however, there are also substantially similar charges in the state of Georgia.

As a Georgia Sex Crimes Lawyer, I will cover one of the offenses the man in the story above has been accused of committing on a federal level as the law defines it here in Georgia – distributing obscene material.

Distributing Obscene Material in Georgia

The Georgia Code defines distributing obscene material in Georgia as:

A person commits the offense of distributing obscene material when he sells, lends, rents, leases, gives, advertises, publishes, exhibits, or otherwise disseminates to any person any obscene material of any description, knowing the obscene nature thereof, or offers to do so, or possesses such material with the intent to do so… O.C.G.A. §16-12-80.

By law, material is deemed to be obscene if it meets any of the following qualifications:

1. To the average person, applying contemporary community standards, taken as a whole, it predominantly appeals to the prurient interest, that is, a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion;
2. The material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value; and
3. The material depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically:

• Acts of sexual intercourse, heterosexual or homosexual, normal or perverted, actual or simulated;
• Acts of masturbation;
• Acts involving excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals;
• Acts of bestiality or the fondling of sex organs of animals; or
• Sexual acts of flagellation, torture, or other violence indicating a sadomasochistic sexual relationship.

If convicted of distributing obscene materials, the offense is classified as a high and aggravated misdemeanor. 

Practice Note

Obscene material ranges across a lot of different categories. It is also worth noting that just because a person has been accused of committing a crime does not mean that he or she is guilty of committing that offense. With every accusation, there is another side to the story. If you have been arrested, call our offices now.