Gilmer law officers uncover cases of child exploitation

Three arrested, crimes sexual in nature

by Al Summers
News Editor • alsummers@timescourier.com

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Gilmer County detectives and uniformed patrol officers have been busy over the past few weeks uncovering cases of children being exploited in a sexual manner, and have made three arrests in three different cases. According to Det. Lane Bennett of the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Department’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), Friday, March 30, William Arlington Barnett, 49, of Ellijay, was taken into custody without incident. He was charged with 151 counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

The detective told the Times-Courier that a tip to the CID stated that Barnett was in possession of child pornography. An arrest warrant for Barnett and a search warrant for Barnett’s residence was issued.

During the execution of the search warrant, a computer was seized along with over 40 computer disks which contained hundreds of images of child pornography. Bennett said, “It is unknown at this time if any of the photos recovered are of local children. Det. Jennifer Davenport is handling this case for the county, and she has requested the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s (GBI) computer analysis department in determining who the people are in the photos and from where the photos originated.”

Bennett also reported the arrest of Jody Summers, 39, of the Pleasant Gap Road area in connection with an alleged rape of a 15 year old female. A search warrant was issued for Summers’ residence where several nude images of the alleged rape victim were found.

Summers was charged with child molestation and sexual exploitation of a child. This case is still under investigation.

In another case, the detective said a 50 year old man had been arrested on the charge of electronically furnishing obscene material to a minor. Bennett said Harold Richard “Ricky” Pritchett, Jr., had allowed children to use a computer where they viewed both adult and child pornography. They also viewed other sexually explicit material.

Pritchett’s computer was seized, as were other objects from Pritchett’s home. Agents from the GBI are also analyzing the computer.