Douglas County Man Sentenced For Child Molestation, Pornography

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — A Douglas County man was sentenced to three decades in prison after pleading guilty to child molestation and child pornography charges.

Jonathan Walker on Thursday pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of children in front of Superior Court Judge Robert J. James.

James sentenced Walker to 55 years, with the first 30 to be served in prison.

In July 2014, Instagram reported a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding child pornography images associated with Walker's Instagram account, IP address and email address.

The center reached out to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Douglasville Police Department to investigate.

Douglasville Police executed search warrants for electronic devices, including Walker's cellphone and laptop, and discovered child porn images. Following the discovery, law enforcement realized some of those images bore a resemblance to a juvenile girl with a relationship to Walker.

The girl was brought to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where she said that, between April and August 2013, Walker molested her on multiple occasions and showed her graphic pornographic images.

When interviewed, Walker originally claimed all of his accounts had been hacked and that he had been framed. He claimed the girl was coerced and made up the charges against him.

"While the horrors that these victims had to suffer through can never truly be undone, this sentence lets them know that what happened to them was wrong, that they didn’t deserve to be abused like they were, and that there are people who are willing to stand up for them," District Attorney Brian Fortner said in a news release.

"We will continue to aggressively prosecute and sentence sexual predators like Jonathan Walker, and we hope this sentence can help bring some sense of closure to their suffering."

Photo via Douglas County District Attorney's office