Georgia mayor arrested in FBI child sex Internet sting

(CNN) -- The mayor of Taylorsville, Georgia, was arrested by the FBI after attempting to meet with a minor to have sex, authorities said FridayCary Rhodes, 57, who was investigated by undercover officers on the Internet, is facing state charges of attempted aggravated child molestation and violating the Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Act, said Brian D. Lamkin, special agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI office.
Rhodes, also a self-employed engineer, was arrested Thursday by FBI agents and officers of the FBI's Northwest Georgia Safe Child Task Force, authorities said..

WOW....Georgia seems to have their share of perverted politicians.

I always have one big question about these cases.

How can they get charged if all they did was talk to someone about it?

I've seen poor 18 year old boys get locked up for speaking with a "16" year old, who ended up being an fbi agent.

......... sick world..

this world is sick.. this state is sicker. I live in GA and I'll tell you it's bass ackwards.. wow..

as I type this, there is a police checkpoint a block away. they are stopping everybody that drives past and are checking license, registration, and insurance..

THIS IS A POLICE STATE

Have Mercy! Apparently, Georgia has had some unfortunate choices in politicians! Let's see....we have public nudity, fraud, bank robbery,drunk driving, and last but not least, cockfighting. The one Mayor involved in the bank robbery was driving the freakin getaway car!!!


duilawyersnow.org...
wonkette.com...
www.local10.com...
www.democraticunderground.com...
www.walb.com...

reply to post by doom27

He was arrested for having child pornography too. He had it on his computer.

reply to post by My.mind.is.mine


I had no idea! When I was reading about the latest arrest, I noticed all the others! Crazy!

reply to post by doom27


The article does say "attempting to meet." I'd agree that simply talking about it, especially online where anybody can say theyre anybody, is ridiculous to make a crime out of to the point of charging people for dreams and thoughts but if they got the guy at some place where he was intent on meeting the person he thought was a minor then that's a different story.

Unfortunately there's no link in the OP to the whole story.

Just saw the links to the honorable mayor's history. Wow.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


It is still a developing story. He was in possession of child porn, so it wasn't just that he tried to meet a child.

Originally posted by doom27
I always have one big question about these cases.

How can they get charged if all they did was talk to someone about it?

I've seen poor 18 year old boys get locked up for speaking with a "16" year old, who ended up being an fbi agent.

It is not so much the speaking part as the meeting up part.

Think to catch a predator..

When you go to meet them that is when it is a crime.

It is so corrupted....I am still trying to find the whole story.

Cary Rhodes, 57, who was investigated by undercover officers on the Internet, is facing state charges of attempted aggravated child molestation and violating the Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Act, said Brian D. Lamkin, special agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI office.

Source

Your Right StealthyKat...Georgia has it's share of perverts. I know white county maybe a dry county for alcohol but it's full of child molesters.

Here's a link that you can use to search by county or city for Sex Offenders in GA. Source
The link will bring up Taylorsville but you can still select the search tab and select another county or city. Like I said we have our share and the ones not registered are the ones to worry about since they won't be showing up in this search. Now that I have a grandbaby in the house I'll be on the lookout. Thanks for posting this thread.

reply to post by relocator


I know....I check my local sex offender registry often ever since I found out I had a convicted rapist living 3 houses down from me.

It just never ends! Here is a Mayor's son arrested for animal cruelty for raping dogs! Since this article was written, they revealed that the "evidence" they took from the house were videos he had taken of himself raping his 2 dogs....www.myfoxatlanta.com... I'm not picking on Georgia, but that is crazy stuff.

reply to post by doom27

I think that what the mayor did is sick, but I agree with you. In a lot of these cases, we cannot say for sure whether it still would have happened at some point. I think that, in general, we may in fact be creating these crimes by simply giving them the opportunity to flower. If you put an undercover agent on a street, posing as a prostitute, and wait for guys to approach her before arresting them, one must ask: Are we certain the person who approached the prostitute would have done it anyway eventually without our being involved? I don't think we can be certain, and thus, that's why I'm opposed to these kind of criminal justice practices.

Seriously, if we had never put the prostitute on that street on that particular day, the guy/girl who approached her for sex may never have approached a prostitute for the rest of their life. Maybe it was just that particular day when the guy/girl slipped. We just CANNOT say for sure.

It's wrong. We let our emotions overrule our better judgment in these instances.

But this mayor, regardless, is disgusting.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


He apparently took the next step beyond just talk and physically went to meet the "child"...that is when the arrest was made.

reply to post by jonnywhite

No.....he was being watched as he explicitly told the "child" what he wanted to do, set up a meeting place, and showed up with "accessories" he planned on using. That shows intent. It will all come out in court. Of course there is always the possiblity that he would back out of it.....but in reality, that isn't likely to be the case....he went through several steps in the process where he could have bailed out...but didn't.

reply to post by StealthyKat

Would this have happened in this man's life if they had not 'stinged' him?

Can you tell me 100% this mayor would have done this if we had not staged it?

If you cannot then we may have ruined this man's life, even though he DID commit a crime.

What he did IS wrong, but what we're doing is playing god.

reply to post by StealthyKat


SMH yet he is the MAYOR, how do these people get into these positions of POWER??? Good catch StealthyKat

reply to post by StealthyKat


Hon, we got more corruption that you can imagine, from briberies to police to city officials favoritism you name it.

In my county alone every year something new happens specially when it comes to sex scandals.

So much for the bastion of southern Baptist control, but you find the pillars of community every Sunday trying to purge their sins. So they can start new on mondays.

Even religious leaders in the State has been caught on all kind of kinky and dirty issues.

reply to post by StealthyKat

Was it 'fake' porn like drawn or cartoon? Or did it involve real children?

(cartoon/fake porn is not always illegal, but real children is)

Also.. how did they get a warrant to look at his computer?