Paulding Man Guilty Of 61 Counts Of Child Sexual Exploitation

PAULDING COUNTY, GA – A Paulding County man pled guilty July 16 to 61 61 counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children, possession of child pornography, according to the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.

Michael Peter Marrero, 42, stood in front of Paulding County Superior Court Chief Judge Tonny Beavers and Judge Beavers sentenced Marrero to 40 years where he would serve 20 years in state prison. The remaining 20 years will be served on probation and he will be listed as a Registered Sex Offender and will be bound by all of the sexual offender conditions and restrictions that apply to that designation.

In October of 2015, detectives with the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Children Unit launched an investigation into Marrero. After a yearlong investigation into Marrero, detectives obtained a search warrant in March of 2016 for his residence. While deputies and detectives served the search warrant, they discovered that Marrero was actively online attempting to delete evidence during their entry. It was later determined that Marrero’s attempts to delete evidence were futile. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation CEACC Unit assisted with the computer forensics portion of the case and were able to recover most of the files Marrero attempted to delete. Marrero was arrested at the time the search warrant was executed and subsequently indicted by a Paulding County Grand Jury on 61 counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children for the possession and distribution of child pornography.

The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office has been an affiliate member of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force since 2008. If you have information on anyone who possesses child pornography, call the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Children Unit at 770-445-6105.

(For more news like this, sign up for Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news in Dallas and Hiram — or other neighborhoods. Access Patch on the go with our iPhone app or our brand new app for Android phone users.)

Photo courtesy Paulding County Sheriff's Office