Grovetown police have arrested a local man following an undercover sting involving a man who thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl.
Christian Garland, 22, of VFW Road, was charged with enticing a child for indecent purposes and two counts of violation of the Child Exploitation and Prevention Act.
The sting began on Wednesday when Garland allegedly began communicating on a social media app with someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl.
“Despite being advised multiple times that he was conversing with a juvenile, Mr. Garland continued to send sexually explicit messages while asking to arrange a meeting for engaging in sexual intercourse,” Chief Jamey Kitchens said in a press release. “Mr. Garland was very specific and graphic in his intentions despite being repeatedly reminded that he was conversing with a juvenile.
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Garland was taken into custody without incident after arriving at a pre-determined meeting location where he had planned to lead the child back to his home for the purposes of sexual intercourse, the chief said.
After his arrest, Garland was then informed that he had in fact been conversing with Sgt. William Loomer of the Grovetown Police Department, who is also assigned to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Greg Rickabaugh is the Jail Report contributor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at greg.rickabaugh@theaugustapress.com
