GA Man Sentenced In Molestation Of Teen Boy: Cherokee Prosecutors

CANTON, GA — A Marietta man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to the child molestation of a 14-year-old boy in Cherokee County, prosecutors said Friday.

Gwinnett County Senior Judge Ronnie K. Batchelor on June 15 sentenced Jarrod Donte Luster, 39, to prison after Luster entered a negotiated guilty plea in the case, according to the Cherokee County District Attorney's Office.

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office first investigated the case on Nov. 27, 2023. Prosecutors said the teenage boy accused Luster of inappropriately touching him when he was age 8.

Luster was known to the boy as a close family friend and often had access to him, prosecutors said.

In a forensic interview, prosecutors said the boy detailed the acts of inappropriate touches, which included Luster touching the boy's inner thigh and grabbing his groin while the boy's mother was in the hospital in 2018. Luster was babysitting at the time, prosecutors said.

During the investigation, three additional children from the extended family reported similar incidents involving Luster outside of Cherokee, according to prosecutors.

Luster was set to go before a jury last week; however, he pled guilty to two counts of child molestation and was sentenced to 30 years, prosecutors said. He must serve the first 20 years in prison and the balance on probation with sex offender special conditions.

His sentence, which included sex offender registration and no contact with people younger than age 18, was handed down as negotiated. Additionally, Luster cannot have contact with the four victims and their families.

“This defendant insidiously embedded himself within an extended family to gain access to their children," Assistant District Attorney Meaghan Frankish of the Special Victims Unit said in a news release. "He spent years cultivating trust, grooming each child over time and carefully selecting moments to commit his offenses. His actions were calculated and predatory."