A man already serving a lengthy federal prison sentence for production of child pornography pleaded guilty to a final pending charge in Columbia County Superior Court on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Richard H. Moore Jr., 51, pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit child molestation in exchange for a sentence of five years in prison followed by five years on probation, a sentence that will run concurrently to the federal prison term he is serving.
Moore was arrested after a 14-year-old boy at a Grovetown hotel asked an employee for help in January 2019. According to media reports, Moore had taken the child to the hotel to have sex after they had exchanged explicit pictures of each other.
At the time of that incident, Moore was on bond in a Burke County child molestation case.
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According to court records, he was accused of having sexual contact with two boys in 2015.
Moore pleaded guilty in federal court to the production of child pornography and was sentenced in July 2020 to 264 months in prison. Federal sentences are served without parole.
The Burke County charges were dropped by the district attorney’s office Dec. 2, 2021. In the motion for the dismissal, the prosecutor wrote that a victim had recanted, the law enforcement investigator in the case was himself under indictment for child molestation and Moore had already been sentenced in federal court.
The Burke County investigator, Gene Boseman, entered an Alford plea — not admitting guilt but acknowledging there was enough evidence for a conviction on July 7. He was sentenced to two years in prison followed by 18 years on probation.
Moore was returned to Columbia County on Dec. 8 for the disposition of the final case. He will be sent back into the federal prison system to complete his sentence.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.Â
