The former Richmond County educator accused of molesting students at Glenn Hills Elementary School, licking children’s feet at a birthday venue and attempting to photograph another child was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday.
Columbia County Superior Court Judge J. Grady Blanchard sentenced Caurey Verlon Rollins, 27, to 10 years, to serve seven years in prison for criminal attempt to commit child molestation. He’ll serve the rest on probation.
Rollins cruised a Grovetown neighborhood in his white Camaro May 17, 2023, until he got the attention of the 12-year-old victim, who was playing basketball in his driveway, Assistant District Attorney Daniel Welsh told the court.
Rollins showed the boy a picture of feet and asked if his looked like them. The boy said no, and Rollins asked him to get his car and show him his feet.
“You can sit in my car and take off your shoes and socks and I can see them,” Welsh said Rollins said to the child.
The boy realized something was wrong and went home and told family members. His mother recognized the scenario from the news as similar to a Jan. 14, 2023, incident at Urban Air in which Rollins was accused of tickling and licking a child’s feet.
Their family’s lives “have been forever changed,” the victim’s mother told the court. Her son no longer wants to go outside alone or be seen or approached by anyone, the mother said.
“You are nothing but a predator,” she said.
The incident could have been avoided had a Richmond County judge not granted Rollins a bond on his prior charges, she said.
A motion to revoke Rollins’ bond is pending in Richmond County, Welsh said. Rollins faces there a seven-count indictment for child molestation involving three children who attended Glenn Hills Elementary, where Rollins worked as a physical education paraprofessional in the fall of 2022. His indictment for child molestation in the Urban Air incident also remains pending.
Richmond County Judge Amanda Heath had granted Rollins a bond, against prosecutors’ wishes and with no ankle monitor on the prior molestation charges.
Rollins’ father, Carrisquello “Carl” Verlon Rollins Sr., testified on behalf of his son. His son was raised in a Christian home and his mother is a Richmond County educator, the father said. The incident has deeply impacted the family and their church, he said.
Rollins Sr. is head of the Walker Baptist Association and pastor of First Baptist Missionary Church in Stapleton.
Rollins’ attorney, Tony Howard II, asked for leniency, including in light of the multiple additional charges Rollins faces in Richmond County. Rollins has been playing percussion in church and school bands all his life, in addition to serving in ROTC and playing sports, Howard said.
In addition to working in the school system, Rollins also was employed with the Boys and Girls Club, Howard said.
Blanchard said the victim’s mother said it best. “You are nothing but a predator,” the judge said. “You have hurt this child mentally and emotionally. You definitely need to be separated from society.”
Blanchard gave Rollins the maximum sentence of seven years in prison and three on probation for criminal attempt to commit molestation, along with numerous conditions, including banishing him from Columbia County.
His other conditions include a ban on possessing images of, being in contact with minors or in areas where minors congregate, a curfew, a ban on using alcohol and drugs, DNA and disease testing and placement on the sex offender registry.
In addition, his computer and devices will be subject to random searches, and he can’t run for a board of education seat, Blanchard said.
