Sheriff’s deputy charged with distributing child porn, Georgia officials say
A former police deputy is behind bars on child pornography charges, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Officers arrested former Forsyth County Chief Deputy Grady Sanford, 56, at his home Tuesday, charging him with two counts of distributing child pornography, authorities said in a press release.
A tip from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that “child sexual abuse images” had been uploaded to the Internet via email prompted an investigation into Sanford’s internet activity. Authorities secured a warrant to search his home after successfully tracing the computer’s IP address to a physical address — which matched Sanford’s residence in Canton.
Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman, who fired Sanford after being alerted to the GBI’s investigation, said he was shocked by the charges against the former deputy.
“We intentionally set our standards high at Forsyth County,” Freeman said in a statement. “Regardless of rank, every employee must meet those moral and legal standards. There is no room for this type of crime in our State, and certainly not in the law enforcement profession. I’ve made a commitment to be transparent, even when one of our own employees does wrong.”
No one is exempt, and no one is above the law,” he added.
Sanford is being held at the Cherokee County Jail.
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 3:13 PM.