Lavonia Apartment Part of Statewide Child Porn Investigation

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and as a result of a statewide investigation, 47 people have been charged with 87 counts of trafficking in child pornography.

According to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, State and local investigators continue to pour over evidence gathered in a multi-county sweep to crack down on child pornography statewide.

As a result of a 3-month investigation search warrants were executed in 37 Georgia counties in connection with the distribution of child porn over the Internet.  

Part of that investigation led authorities to Lavonia.

Last week, a multi-agency task force lead by the agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation descended on an apartment complex in Lavonia on SR77 extension across from the old Lavonia elementary school.

The apartment sits across the street from where a pre-school program and an after school program for elementary school children are run Monday through Friday.

The GBI Athens office said evidence was seized, but no arrests made.

In addition to the arrests, the GBI press release said 159 devices were previewed on-site, 187 hard drives/smart phones seized, 27 other devices seized (thumb drives, CDs, digital cameras, etc.), and 78 searches completed.

This is the largest operations of its kind in Georgia conducted by the State’s ICAC Task Force.

Known as “Operation Guarding Innocence”, this state-wide endeavor included 50 teams representing 47 Federal, State and Local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies.