Decatur Man Sentenced To 20 Years For Child Porn, Stalking

DECATUR, GA — A Decatur man will serve a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of producing child pornography and cyber-stalking two teenage girls he met through social media.

Emanuel Gray, 22, was charged with two counts of producing child pornography, two counts of cyberstalking, and one count of possession of child pornography, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. Gray harassed and threatened the teen girls to send him sexually explicit photos and videos and when they refused to continue he posted them online.

“Gray stalked and threatened his victims after they rebuffed his demands,” said U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine in the news release. “He terrorized these girls by threatening to post their photographs online if they did not comply. A jury has held Gray accountable for his inexcusable crimes, and he will now serve time in prison.”

Between May 2017 and November 2018, when he was arrested, Gray targeted at least two teenage girls who he had met online through various social media apps, including Kik and Snapchat, according to the release. The girls, who both testified in court that they didn’t know each other, sent Gray images and videos of themselves.

One of the victims, who was 14 at the time, testified after meeting Gray online they were in a “relationship” for a short time. After she decided to end the relationship, Gray harassed and threatened her until she sent more photos. Gray not only threatened her directly but attempted to “expose her” by posting explicit photos of her on her high school band's Facebook page.

The other victim, who was 16 at the time, described also being threatened and harassed by Gray. He sent multiple messages to her high school band's Facebook page and created multiple fake Instagram accounts to “expose her” as well.

Gray was arrested in November 2018. After his prison sentence, he’ll spend five years on supervised release. He’ll also be required to register as a sex offender once he’s out of custody.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Schulenburg, Texas and Villa Rica, Georgia police departments.