Peach County Man Arrested for the Sexual Exploitation of Children

Fort Valley, GA (February 10, 2022) – On Thursday, February 3, 2022, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes (CEACC) Unit, with the assistance of the Peach County Sheriff’s Office and the GBI Perry Office, executed a search warrant at a residence in Fort Valley, GA regarding a sexual exploitation of children investigation. The investigation began after the GBI CEACC Unit, the host agency for the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The cybertip involved the possession of explicit child sexual abuse material, commonly referred to as child pornography, which resolved to Peach County, GA.

As a result of the search warrant execution, the following individual was arrested:

John Martin Wells, age 21, of Fort Valley, GA, was charged with one count of Sexual Exploitation of Children (Possession of Child Pornography).

Wells was transported to the Peach County Jail.

This investigation is part of the ongoing effort by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, housed within the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, to identify those involved in the child pornography trade. The ICAC Program, created by the U.S. Department of Justice, was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the Internet, the proliferation of child pornography, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.

Anyone with information about these cases, or other cases of child exploitation, is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit at 404-270-8870. Tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS(8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.