HB993 – GROOMING BILL TO BE SIGNED INTO LAW TODAY

The parents of a Hartwell woman who, they say, was the victim of years of sexual grooming by her gymnastics coach will be at the State Capitol today to witness Governor Brian Kemp sign HB993, which makes the grooming of a minor for sex a felony.

Susan Cobb lost her daughter, Jennifer to suicide in 2021 after she had allegedly been groomed for sex by her gymnastics coach beginning at the age of 11.

Since her death, her parents have been fighting to get a law passed in Georgia that would make grooming a felony crime.

Cobb said Tuesday, getting the bill passed has been a long, hard fight.

According to Susan Cobb, when her daughter finally told her what had happened to her and was old enough to realize that the same person who groomed her for sex was also targeting other young girls, she went to the authorities, and the suspect was arrested.

At that point, Cobb said Jennifer began to work to help those young girls to keep others from becoming victims.

Now that HB993 is law, Cobb said she will continue Jennifer’s work and fight to help other children who are or have been victims of sexual grooming and molestation.

According to the Massachusetts-based group Enough Abuse, which deals primarily with sexual abuse in the schools, thirty-six (36) states have passed laws to address education about child sexual abuse in schools, but fourteen (14) states have no laws as of July 2023.

In a 2021 white paper published by members of the Psychology Department of Farleigh Dickinson University, child sexual grooming is considered a precursor to the criminal act of child sexual abuse; however, in some jurisdictions, child sexual grooming in and of itself is considered a standalone criminal offense, such as it now is in the State of Georgia.

Other states such as Vermont, Florida, Connecticut, Illinois, and Minnesota all have anti-grooming statutes on their books.

Both federal and state governments in the United States have created anti-grooming laws to criminalize these preparatory acts to protect children before the sexual abuse can occur.