JAW GA News Special Investigative Review | October 17, 2026
VALDOSTA, Ga. — An arrest in Valdosta over allegations that a trusted adult sexually assaulted a child while driving her to school prompted JAW GA News to widen its investigation. The question is no longer limited to one suspect, one school or one county. What happens when children are placed in the care of adults who have authority, access or the trust of a family? And when allegations emerge, what do employers, public agencies and prosecutors actually do?
Our review has examined law enforcement, clergy, teachers and school administrators, daycare workers, healthcare personnel, youth sports, foster and residential care, family and guardians, juvenile detention, transportation, camps and mentoring, private instructors, online exploitation, trafficking, and contractors with access to children.
This report is a developing investigative inventory, not a claim that every case listed is currently open. The latest confirmed status varies by case. Some matters were explicitly described as active in October 2026; others reached indictment or arraignment; some have been resolved by conviction or plea; and several earlier arrest reports require updated court dockets. An arrest, a charge, an indictment and a conviction are legally different events. No person with unresolved charges is presumed guilty. Where alleged conduct did not arise from a person’s job, that distinction is stated.
1. Valdosta, Lowndes County and other trusted-adult cases
Ervin Lamar McCullen, 37, was arrested after Valdosta police obtained five felony warrants on October 15. The charges reported include aggravated child molestation, child molestation, sexual battery involving a child under 16, enticing a child for indecent purposes, and first-degree cruelty to children. Police allege a child was assaulted while being driven to school by an adult she knew. The October 17 report says the investigation remains ongoing. There is no verified claim that McCullen was a professional driver or school employee.
Keenan Richards, 33, was arrested October 13. Valdosta police allege he contacted a minor through WhatsApp while misrepresenting his age. Reported felony charges include aggravated child molestation, statutory rape, child molestation, aggravated assault by strangulation and burglary. Police described the case as active, with possible additional charges.
Raphael Burns, 40, was arrested September 30 in Louisiana on 36 felony warrants stemming from allegations involving two children in Valdosta between 2019 and 2023. The October 2 report described him as awaiting extradition. The present extradition and prosecution status have not been independently verified.
Dominique Antwand Sims, 37, was named by Valdosta police in January 2026 as wanted on warrants arising from allegations involving two children. Reporting on February 26 still described him as at large. That was his last verified status in this review; readers should not assume he remains at large today without a new police confirmation.
Lee Harris, 52, was arrested in Florida and returned to Valdosta in August 2025 on multiple alleged sexual offenses against two children. A current disposition has not been confirmed.
Beyond Lowndes County, the GBI announced October 16 that Kenneth Duane Brewer, 57, and Kelley Brewer, 43, were arrested in Berrien County on October 15. Kenneth Brewer faces child molestation, grooming, rape, aggravated sodomy, improper sexual contact by a person in a position of trust, and controlled-substance allegations. Kelley Brewer faces a second-degree cruelty-to-children charge. The GBI explicitly called the investigation ongoing. The name of the position-of-trust statute does not, by itself, prove anyone was a foster parent.
In Brooks County, Ricardo Boatman was arrested September 23 on child molestation and incest charges during a GBI investigation involving the pregnancy of a minor. Lavon Thurston, Terrilyn Thurston and Ariel Boatman were arrested October 1 on separate second-degree child cruelty charges. The GBI reported an active investigation October 2. Their exact familial relationships to the child should not be presumed from surnames. A separate Brooks County case involved Daniel Torres, arrested in April on aggravated sexual battery and sexual battery allegations; its present disposition remains unverified.
Additional regional cases under court-status review include Tykel Sowell of Clinch County, charged in October 2026 with statutory rape and child molestation allegations; Henry Markevious Darden of Tift County, whose February arrest on multiple sexual offense charges was reported in April; and David Adam Richardson in Cook County, whose earlier reported case requires an updated docket. These must not be represented as confirmed pending on October 17 without court verification.
In a resolved Dougherty County matter, Shan Harp was found guilty October 14, 2026, in two child sex offense cases involving incest, molestation and aggravated sexual offenses. His sentencing was still to come according to the October 14 report. This is a conviction, not an unresolved accusation.
2. Law enforcement officers and public-safety personnel
Jerry Shingler Davis, a former Worth County sheriff’s deputy, was indicted September 14 and arrested September 18, 2026, following an investigation into alleged misconduct involving a minor. Reported counts included sexual exploitation of children, electronically furnishing obscene material to minors, three oath-of-office violations, and other computer, statement and records offenses. The sheriff’s office stated Davis was placed on leave in May and terminated July 28. A final disposition has not been established.
Ashley Wilson, then police chief in Nicholls, Coffee County, was arrested in June 2025 on three counts of enticing a child, attempted child molestation and a violation-of-oath charge. The GBI alleged inappropriate texts with a 15-year-old and said the investigation was ongoing at the time. A present court outcome needs confirmation.
Statewide comparisons include Mike McGuffey, a former Coweta County deputy and school resource officer indicted in August 2026 on three molestation and two enticing counts; Rylee Conner Willis, a former Gwinnett deputy charged in January and later named in a separate Butts County investigation in September; Withman Benjamin, a Cobb County police officer arrested in January; and Amber Nicole Ferguson, a former Athens-Clarke officer federally indicted in December 2025 on child exploitation offenses. Updated individual dispositions remain to be checked.
Historical law-enforcement leads previously reviewed include former Fitzgerald police captain Allen E. Pope and former Blakely officer Robert Tyler Vaughn. Those earlier arrests should not be characterized as current prosecutions without verified dockets. JAW GA News has also reviewed a separate professional-conduct allegation involving Wallace Parrish; no independently verified child sexual abuse criminal charge was established in this research, so he is not included among defendants in this category.
Outside traditional policing, William Jerry Minix II, a Coffee County firefighter at the time of the alleged incident, was arrested October 9, 2026, for sexual battery against a child under 16. The GBI explicitly stated the alleged conduct did not take place while he was working as a firefighter.
3. Clergy, pastors and religious leadership
Bernadel Junior Semexant, associated with House of Prayer Christian Church in Hinesville and Savannah, was charged in a 2025 federal indictment alleging enticement and sexual abuse of a minor, transfer of obscene material and child sexual abuse material offenses. A federal court ruling occurred in August 2026, but the final current disposition has not been verified. The FBI has requested information about possible additional victims or witnesses.
John Tyler Moreland, a former Middle Georgia youth pastor, faced more than 7,000 charges in Pennsylvania according to court reporting in May 2026, many involving child sexual abuse material and alleged unlawful online contact. This is a Pennsylvania criminal prosecution with a Georgia religious-employment connection. The current count and court outcome require verification.
Jeffery Summers, a former pastor at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains who later worked in Florida, was arrested in a March 2025 undercover child-solicitation operation. Police described an undercover officer, not an actual child, as the online contact in that operation. His Florida disposition remains unverified.
Jerry Dan Heflin, a former church deacon in Sylvester, pleaded guilty in June 2025 to three aggravated sodomy counts and received a life sentence with an initial period of confinement. His conviction is resolved criminally. His earlier indictment also included a sexual-contact-by-foster-parent charge, but that does not mean he was convicted of every original allegation. Another historical clergy lead, Kevin Harrison Jr. of Thomasville, dates to 2014 and requires an independently confirmed disposition.
4. Teachers, coaches, school administrators and school contractors
Derrick Yarbrough, a former Lowndes High School teacher and golf coach, was arrested in June 2025 after allegations involving a student. Charges reported included sodomy, child molestation and sexual assault by a person with disciplinary or supervisory authority. His counsel later sought dismissal or other relief; a current ruling or disposition has not been verified.
The separate Luke Miller case has a confirmed criminal outcome: the former Lowndes High School teacher and assistant softball coach pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual contact by an employee or agent and received a sentence that included 180 days in jail. A related civil lawsuit, Doe v. Lowndes County School District, case 7:26-cv-00059, was permitted to proceed in part by an August 20, 2026, federal order. Principal Leann McCall, Assistant Principal Jared Dickey, Athletic Director Danny Redshaw and Coach Stewart Thomas are named in the civil litigation; this does not establish that those administrators were criminally charged with sexual abuse or that civil liability has been proven.
Other school cases include an unnamed Clinch County teacher under a GBI investigation announced October 1, 2026; Fernando Chavez of Jeff Davis County Schools, arrested August 14; Courtney Williams Shaver, a former Wayne County High School teacher, arrested April 17; Danielle Weaver, a former Lee County teacher indicted in July; and Willie James Silas, a Mitchell County middle-school teacher arrested in a case that originated with allegations involving a child in Delaware. School employment does not mean the reported conduct occurred at school.
Also under disposition review are former Tifton paraprofessional Andrew Lee O’Kelley; former Wilcox County teacher and coach Lorenzo Dennard; and former Tift substitute Amanda Smith-Tucker, whose alleged conduct was reported to have occurred at home and whose district substitute work reportedly lasted one day. Those are distinct matters and should not be merged.
Farther east, Rory Mooney, a former Bryan County teacher, was indicted in June 2026. WTOC documented school records and a timeline of how allegations were handled; Mooney pleaded not guilty. In Savannah, Paulina Walden, a former Jenkins High School teacher, pleaded not guilty October 12 and requested a jury trial. The molestation count reportedly concerned alleged exposure of her own young child to the incident, an important distinction from an allegation of physical contact with that child.
A separate school-vendor lead is John David Anderson of Fitzgerald, owner of CAAA Security, arrested July 10, 2026, on charges including child molestation, enticing and grooming. Public promotional materials cited in news reporting claimed his company worked with school systems including Ben Hill and Irwin. That does not independently establish actual contracts, campus access or any abuse connected to a school. JAW GA News has requested those records.
5. Daycare and preschool: sexual abuse allegations versus physical child cruelty
Irvin Eugene Griffin, associated with an in-home daycare in Baldwin County, was charged with child molestation in November 2025. The GBI did not establish publicly whether the alleged victim attended the daycare. The state later revoked the daycare license, according to December reporting. The current criminal disposition remains unverified.
Tulsi Patel, a former Alpharetta daycare employee, faces numerous counts including aggravated child molestation following allegations involving preschoolers. At a September 15, 2026, hearing, prosecutors offered a plea proposal and reported a November 1 decision deadline. That report supports an unresolved case as of September, not a claim about any later ruling. A separate Statesboro investigation at Eagle’s Nest Learning Center was described as open but inactive by police in June 2025, with no charges filed then; its current status requires confirmation.
Separate nonsexual cruelty and regulatory cases: In Nashville, Kalasha Johnson of Joyful Noise Academy faced four first-degree cruelty-to-children charges after a May 2026 arrest, and Debora Schlueter of Small World Education Center was arrested in July on a child cruelty charge. The available reporting does not establish sexual assault charges in either case.
At a former Lee County daycare, Sarah Luke, Cristie Hall and Nicholas Moore faced reported child cruelty, evidence-tampering or failure-to-report allegations in February 2026. Investigators said the present owners of the renamed facility were not involved. Another earlier physical-abuse case involving Yvette Thurston at Little Blessings Childcare in Bainbridge requires its own current disposition check. Separately, Love Thy Kids Academy in Valdosta closed after childcare safety findings; those reports must not be recast as sexual abuse charges.
In a statewide oversight comparison, Angela Martin, former president of Cornerstone Schools, pleaded guilty in March 2026 to reckless conduct and received probation following controversy over handling an earlier abuse allegation involving Patel. Martin’s resolved charge was not a conviction for physically abusing children.
6. Healthcare, dental, psychiatric and emergency services
Jalen Brooks, identified by Dougherty County as a part-time EMS employee, was reported in June 2026 as facing child molestation, aggravated sodomy and computer-related charges in Terrell County. The county confirmed his employment but did not say the alleged acts occurred during EMS duties. The court outcome remains unverified.
Jalen Pugh, a former worker at Ridgeview Institute Smyrna, was arrested in July over allegations involving a 15-year-old psychiatric patient; reported charges include sexual assault of a person with a disability, statutory rape and aggravated child molestation. The reports do not establish he was a licensed physician or nurse. The August court reporting described denial of bond.
Kori Jolynn Morris, identified as a pediatric nurse in Coweta County, was charged in 2025 after allegations involving a child. Investigators explicitly said the alleged conduct was unrelated to her nursing job. Her final disposition remains unverified.
Two resolved Georgia medical-professional cases provide comparisons. Paul Bogeun Kim, a pediatric dentist, received a federal sentence in December 2024 for possession of child sexual abuse material; the prosecution did not establish that he assaulted patients. Kenneth Francis McPherson, a former Augusta child psychologist, entered an Alford plea in 2022 to sexual exploitation of a minor after earlier molestation charges were dismissed under a plea agreement. He was released from prison in September 2026 and registered as a sex offender. His earlier molestation indictments must not be described as convictions on those counts.
JAW GA News has not established a current pending local child sexual abuse prosecution specifically against a dentist, physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner in Berrien, Cook, Lowndes or Tift counties. A title such as “Dr.” does not, by itself, establish medical licensure.
7. Family and guardians; foster care and group homes
The Brooks County Boatman investigation, the Berrien County Brewer case and the Valdosta trusted-adult cases above underscore why an occupational list is insufficient. Some of the most consequential abuse allegations involve someone already known to a child. In Thomas County, an older prosecution involving Artis Johnson Jr. drew attention when a judge rejected a proposed plea agreement in January 2026. Updated court records are needed before asserting that it remains pending today.
A prior Worth County indictment against Jerry Heflin included a charge associated with a foster-parent position of trust. His later guilty plea to three aggravated sodomy counts, noted above, must be reported separately. This review found no newly independently confirmed 2026 South Georgia sexual abuse prosecution specifically against a licensed foster-home operator or group-home employee; that gap is now the subject of records inquiries to Georgia DHS and DFCS.
8. Juvenile detention and residential treatment
A historical Georgia juvenile corrections case involved former officer Tyrell De’Jon Johnson, arrested in 2023 on reported sexual assault by a person with supervisory authority and oath allegations. His current disposition needs verification. No new qualifying South Georgia juvenile-facility employee prosecution was independently confirmed in this review. JAW GA News has requested existing public PREA audits, aggregate staff-on-youth misconduct findings and referral policies from the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice. This category does not count the Ridgeview psychiatric case twice.
9. Youth sports, transportation, camps and private instruction
School coaches Yarbrough and Miller overlap the youth-sports category already described. No separate recently pending local case involving an independent summer-camp counselor, scouting leader or youth mentor was independently confirmed. That is a research gap, not evidence that abuse never occurs in those settings.
Transportation offers several documented but different forms of access. On October 13 the GBI charged former Bacon County bus monitor Jerry Alvin Sweat with exhibiting harmful material to minors, alleging he showed pornography to children while employed. His reported charge is not physical sexual assault. The GBI confirmed an ongoing investigation. Theresa Bryant, a longtime Bacon County school bus driver, was separately arrested in the multi-county abuse and trafficking case discussed below. No official source has established that her alleged offenses occurred on a bus.
In private instruction, Dr. Harry Martinez, an Albany-area piano instructor, was arrested August 24, 2026, on a child molestation charge. The alleged abuse concerned a 10-year-old. Police described their investigation as active at the time and asked families with relevant information to contact them. His “Dr.” title is not evidence that he practiced medicine.
10. Online grooming, child sexual abuse material and sextortion
Online cases cross professional categories: the Richards case involved WhatsApp, the Moreland investigation involved alleged online contact, and the Wilson case involved reported text messages. Those cases are not duplicated here as separate arrests.
Two Coffee County men were arrested February 12, 2026, following separate GBI child exploitation investigations: Jonathan Dwayne Graham of Broxton, charged with five sexual exploitation counts, and Matthew Lee Sprinkle of Nicholls, charged with ten. The GBI tied each investigation to cyber tips about suspected child sexual abuse material. Tift County names Timothy Grimsley and Dennis Farmer were also identified in prior coverage of a 2025 exploitation operation; their current cases need a docket review before any new status is claimed.
One Berrien-connected sextortion prosecution is definitively resolved: Cenobio Olguin Jr. of Lenox was sentenced in federal court April 23, 2026, to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted production of child sexual abuse material in a Snapchat sextortion case involving an Ohio teenager. The FBI and Berrien County Sheriff’s Office investigated.
11. Child sex trafficking and coordinated multi-county investigations
One of the most extensive regional matters is the GBI’s July 14, 2026, five-defendant case involving Ware, Charlton, Clinch and Bacon counties. The GBI identified eight alleged child victims, ages three to thirteen, and said further victims might be identified. The five adult defendants named in its release were Joel Christopher Heath, Theresa Bryant, Betty Sue Corbitt, Elizabeth Delk and Amber Lynn Hult. Reported charges vary across defendants and include aggravated sexual offenses, child sexual exploitation and, for some defendants, trafficking counts. Five people charged in this linked matter do not mean five separate investigations.
A further Cook County-area lead concerns former funeral business operator Stanley Henderson of Adel, who was reported in 2025 as facing felony sexual exploitation and trafficking-related charges as well as unrelated business matters. Current case dispositions must be verified; his profession does not mean the alleged crimes involved funeral-service clients.
12. What the inquiries are asking: public records and institutional responsibility
JAW GA News sent eight inquiries on October 17, 2026, through its connected newsroom email account. Submission through Gmail has been confirmed; recipient delivery and substantive responses are not yet established. These are inquiries, not findings of wrongdoing.
- Bacon County Schools: employment and separation histories, reporting and referral timeline, school-board action and transportation safety policies involving Jerry Sweat and Theresa Bryant.
- Ben Hill County Schools: whether CAAA Security or John David Anderson held contracts, dates of access, screening policies and any review after July 2026.
- Irwin County Schools: the same vendor-contract and school-access verification, including any applicable board records.
- GBI Public Affairs: the latest public status, case referrals and any new publicly announced charges in the Ware/Charlton/Clinch/Bacon investigation and the Sweat investigation.
- Georgia DHS Residential Child Care Licensing: existing public licensing, inspection, enforcement and aggregate sexual-safety information for group homes and child-caring facilities in South Georgia.
- Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice: existing PREA audits, non-identifying staff-on-youth sexual misconduct statistics, employee discipline and referral policies.
- Georgia DHS/DFCS: foster-care screening, reporting policies, and existing non-identifying aggregate findings and criminal referrals.
- GBI Child Exploitation/Public Affairs: publicly releasable status information for the Coffee County online-exploitation arrests and prior Tift County cases.
The records requests seek readily available, nonexempt information, with no fee-producing work authorized without prior approval. Georgia’s Open Records Act generally permits an agency to charge for qualifying staff time after the first 15 minutes; exempt records and confidential child-protection materials are not made public simply because a reporter asks. We have explicitly excluded child names, identifying details, protected interview material, medical records and confidential investigative files.
13. How JAW GA News will classify cases and avoid misleading readers
Every entry in the continuing case tracker will identify the county and court, agency, source, last verified status date, charges or conviction, the accused person’s actual professional role, and whether alleged conduct was connected to that role. An investigation that was active in June is not automatically active in October. An arrest is not an indictment. A plea to one offense does not prove counts dismissed under an agreement. A civil lawsuit against school administrators is not a criminal indictment of those administrators. And a physical child-cruelty investigation is not a sexual abuse prosecution unless supported by an actual allegation or charge.
We also will not assume that adults with the same surname are related to one another, that a business’s advertising proves a government contract, or that a position-of-trust statute establishes any particular job title. Cases reported in North Georgia, Florida or Pennsylvania are labeled as comparisons, not described as South Georgia incidents.
Our underlying question remains straightforward: when a child disclosed abuse or a warning sign was reported, who received that information, what protective action followed, and what public record shows what happened next?
Reporting and survivor resources
Anyone who believes a child is in immediate danger should contact 911. Suspected child abuse in Georgia can be reported to DFCS at 1-855-GACHILD (1-855-422-4453). Online sexual exploitation can be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline. The GBI also accepts tips through its official tip portal. Information given to the newsroom is not a substitute for a report to law enforcement or child protection authorities.
JAW GA News welcomes verifiable court records, public agency correspondence, policies and corrective information. Do not send identifying information or explicit images involving minors. We will protect the identities of children and offer subjects of future specific findings an opportunity to respond before making new allegations.
People. Facts. Accountability.
By JAW GA News Investigative Desk — Rev. Joseph Allen Wolfe, Founder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.
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