Macon man acquitted in FBI-led, child-sex sting during 2015 Cherry Blossom Festival

It was March 2015, the opening weekend of this city’s famed Cherry Blossom Festival, when visitors from across the region come to usher in spring, listen to music and mingle.

Undercover FBI agents, though, came for another reason: a sex sting.

Special events such as the Super Bowl, on a grander scale, and large gatherings in general have proven to generate upticks in sexual-exploitation incidents, according to an agent who oversaw the Macon operation.

So the agents, along with Bibb County sheriff’s deputies, set up shop in a handful of rooms at the Extended Stay America, a $75-a-night-or-so motel along Interstate 75 north of Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard.

The aim? To catch people seeking sex with children.

Undercover agents crafted a bogus personal ad and posted it to Craigslist, the popular online marketplace. The ad, situated above an anime drawing of a young woman in a wrestling ring, read: “Mom and Daughter tag team looking for 1 non-judgmental opponent to hang out with.”

Several Middle Georgia men replied to the ad, and at least some, unbeknownst to them, began email and text message conversations with an undercover agent that the men believed to be the mother of a 15-year-old girl. The undercover agent would then arrange for the men to come to the motel, where cops would be waiting to arrest them.

While it is unclear whether any of the suspects were in town for the Cherry Blossom Festival — most were locals anyway — a dozen were arrested during the two-day sting.

The 12 were initially charged with using a computer service to seduce, solicit, lure or entice a child to commit an illegal act.

So far, one has been convicted at trial, and five have pleaded guilty.

On Thursday, Donavon A. Jorge, 27, whose charges were changed to one count of attempted child molestation and another count of computer pornography and child exploitation, took his case to trial.

His lawyer claimed the undercover operation amounted to entrapment, and although Jorge showed up at the motel and waited 15 or 20 minutes in a lobby, no one ever came to meet him. Jorge left before anyone approached him.

He was arrested after he drove a mile or two away on Northside Drive. Investigators said they didn’t collar him at the motel, so they wouldn’t blow the cover on the sting.

Prosecutor Cara R. Fiore argued Jorge willingly agreed to the encounter, pointing to one of the first emails Jorge supposedly sent, one replying to the Craigslist come-on about the mom and daughter needing an “opponent.”

“I’ll step into the ring with both of you,” his message began, “and will deliver a knockout.”

Fiore said that in another message Jorge sent to the undercover agent, Jorge asked to have sex with the fictitious daughter, and when Jorge was informed the girl was 15, he replied, “OK, no problem.”

Jorge chose not to testify.

But his attorney, Mark B. Beberman, presented a compelling case.

In his closing argument, Beberman said, “Fake crimes do not produce real justice. ... This is not some TV show. It’s not some reality show.”

He painted the authorities as at times slipshod and “sort of reckless” in the way they ran their undercover operation. The sting generated so many replies online that sometimes the agent chatting with them was bombarded.

Beberman also seized on hours-long gaps in Jorge’s communication with the undercover agent over a period of about 24 hours, spans when Jorge didn’t contact the fictitious mother.

“He withdrew; they pursued,” Beberman said.

Beberman also reminded jurors that nowhere in the Craigslist ad did authorities mention that the “daughter” was a 15-year-old girl.

Jurors deliberated for all of 40 minutes or so before acquitting Jorge.

Judge Howard Z. Simms told Jorge he was free to go.

Jorge, tears in his eyes, hugged a woman in the courtroom gallery. He declined to comment and then left.

Beberman, his attorney, said, “I think (the jury) reached the proper verdict in this case based on the evidence presented.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 4:03 PM.