Multi-agency operation arrests 6 in child sex sting
Among the six men arrested in a multi-agency child sex sting in Floyd County, dubbed Operation Safe Christmas, was a second grade elementary school teacher from Summerville as well as others who travelled as far away from Conyers.
The operation was a threeday effort organized by the Floyd County Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The arrestees, ranging in age from 27 to 46, believed they were going to a location to meet with a child and engage in prearranged sex acts, according to a FCPD press release.
“The goal of Operation Safe Christmas was to arrest persons who communicate with children online and then travel to meet them for the purpose of having sex,” FCPD Maj. Jeff Jones said in a press release. “Online child predators visit chat rooms and websites on the internet, find children, begin conversations with them, introduce sexual content and arrange a meeting with the children for the purpose of committing sexual acts with children under the age of 16. The children these predators target are both boys and girls.”
“Although some websites promote themselves as being for “adults-only” it is not uncommon for law enforcement to work cases in which children access these sites, establish profiles claiming to be older, and then find themselves vulnerable to victimization, harassment, blackmail, or assault,” Jones said.
Three men were arrested Wednesday as part of Operation Safe Christmas.
Jimmy Wade Bowen, 46, who works as a general laborer, was arrested Wednesday, Dec. 15, and charged with two counts of felony sexually explicit conduct with a minor, obscene internet contact with minor, two counts of electronically furnishing obscene material to minors and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
Jeovani Tomes Ortega, 31, of Tucker, who works in construction, was arrested Wednesday, Dec. 15, and charged with felony criminal attempt to commit a felony and obscene internet contact with a child.
Jeff Eugene White, 27, of Conyers, who works in construction, was arrested Wednesday, Dec. 15, and is charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of children, obscene internet contact with a child and electronically furnishing obscene material to minors.
White attempted to flee, striking a police car and is also charged with felony aggravated assault on a police office, interference with government property, obstruction and several traffic related offenses including driving too fast for conditions and laying drag.
Norman Keith Eli Gentry, 31, was arrested late Thursday, Dec. 16, and charged with felony criminal attempt of aggravated child molestation as well as possession of marijuana, possession of drug related objects and obscene internet contact with a child.
Two Chattooga County men were arrested late Friday.
Adam Dewayne Broadrick, 40, unemployed, of Trion, is charged with sexual exploitation of children, obscene internet contact with a child, criminal attempt to commit aggravated child molestation and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.
Jeremy Alan Bowman, 44, listed as a second grade school teacher in the Chattooga County School system website, from Summerville, is charged with sexual exploitation of children, obscene internet contact with a child, criminal attempt to commit aggravated child molestation.
All six men remained in the Floyd County Jail without bond on Saturday morning.
“During the multi-day operation, investigators had more than 200 exchanges with subjects on various social media or internet platforms. Many of those were exchanges in which the subject initiated contact with whom they believed to be a minor and directed the conversation towards sex,” the release stated. “In some of those cases, the subject introduced obscene or lewd content, often exposing the minor to pornography or requesting the child take nude or pornographic images for them. About half of the exchanges involved websites used for dating, socializing, or even websites used for classified advertisements.”
Along with those agencies who participated in the planning and coordinating of the operation, the following additional law enforcement agencies participated in Operation Safe Christmas:
The Floyd County Sheriff’s Office, Floyd County 911, Floyd County SWAT, GBI-Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis Center, Polk County Police Department and Rome-Floyd Metro Task Force.