Aubrey Touchton, 55, Peach County Sheriff Deputy Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

Child Pornography is on the upswing, and the prevalence of personal computers and the internet have become a child abusers best friend. But, what happens when the accused is a dependable up holder of the law, one of the very men who has been charged with protecting children as profession?

According to Jeff Ofgang of 13WMAZ, Aubrey Touchton, a Peach County sheriff's deputy has been arrested and charged with five counts of possessing child pornography. Touchton has been under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Craig Rotter, the assistant special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) identified the deputy as Aubrey Touchton of Fort Valley, Georgia.

This officer has been working as the resource officer (security guard) at Fort Valley Middle School. But, at this time investigators do not believe that any of the children at Fort Valley Middle School have been depicted in any of the images in the possession of Touchton. Agent Rotter of the GBI reported that Touchton was arrested at work a week ago and is now free on bond.

It is alleged that Aubrey Touchton had in his possession at least five images of child pornography on two of his home computers, as well as two DVDs that may contain child pornography inside his work vehicle.

Jeff Ofgang is reporting that allegations of Aubrey Touchton's illegal hobby were received from Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese. Most interestingly, the report says that it was Touchton's own wife that gave Sherriff Deese the two DVDs containing suspected child pornography.

According to 13WMAZ, they tried to reach Sherriff Deese at his office on Monday morning, but he is out on vacation. Special agent Rotter of the GBI said a "forensic audit" of a laptop computer and a desktop computer found five images of child pornography."

A forensic audit, according to business dictionary, is an "application of accounting methods to the tracking and collection of forensic evidence, usually for investigation and prosecution of criminal acts such as embezzlement or fraud. Also called forensic accounting." Rotter believes that there will be much more child pornography revealed before the investigation is over.

The Georgia Code of Law states that the "possession of child pornography is punishable by one to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine up to $10,000."

Bibb County assistant district attorney Nancy Scott is prosecuting this case.

References:

GBI: Peach Deputy Arrested on Child-Porn Charges at: http://www.13wmaz.com/news/breaking/story.aspx?storyid=66206&catid=4. Retrieved from the world wide web on 7/6/09.

Forensic Audit at:http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/forensic-audit.html. Retrieved from the world wide web on 7/6/09.