A Silver Creek man remained in jail Wednesday without bond, accused of failing to register as a sex offender.

According to Floyd County Jail reports/ warrants:

James David Fondaw, 34, was arrested Tuesday on a felony warrant for failing to register as a sex offender within 72 hours of moving from his last address, leaving him in violation of the Georgia Sex Offender Registry.

Fondaw is charged with felony failure to register as a sex offender.

A Smyrna man who pimped out two girls, aged 14 and 17, from a Marietta motel room has been sentenced to 13 years in prison followed by 17 years of strict probation in which he cannot have any contact with a minor.

Brandon Miller Myers, 35, was sentenced by Cobb County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Childs on Sept. 25, having negotiated a plea deal on charges of pimping and enticing a child for indecent purposes.

His co-defendant, 22-year-old Smyrna resident Jasmine Avery, was sentenced by Childs in November last year to 12 months probation, having negotiated a plea deal on a sex trafficking charge.

Prosecutors said Myers and Avery worked together to pimp the two teenage girls, but that Avery was less complicit than Myers.

The two were arrested in March 2018 for running a prostitution operation out of a room at the Days Inn motel, on NW Parkway SE in Marietta near Delk Road.

Warrants state the pair commanded the girls to communicate via the TextNow app with persons answering ads placed on the Backpage website for the purpose of soliciting for prostitution.

The victims told police Myers was their pimp, who made them respond to requests for sexual favors via the TextNow app and to meet with clients to have sex for money.

Myers threatened to restrain and confine the girls if they did not comply, warrants show.

He was also sentenced on a charge of possessing a handgun as a convicted felon, having previously been sentenced for cocaine possession.

As a condition of his probation, Myers is not to have any contact or communication with anyone under the age of 18, including his own children, and must register as a sex offender.

He is not to live in a house with children, date or marry anyone with children, or drive alone in the vicinity of parks, schools, playgrounds or anywhere else where children are commonly known to be.

Jail records show Myers is in Ware State Prison in south Georgia.

Avery is to get treatment for substance abuse as part of her probation.

After listening to both Rome police and a representative from RedSpeed USA, Rome City Schools decided to hold off on voting to approve the installation of speed cameras in front of Rome High School until they can discuss it further.

Greg Park with RedSpeed USA, along with Rome Police Department Chief Denise Downer-McKinney and Capt. Chris DeHart, had a 30-minute question and answer session with school board officials during Tuesday night’s caucus at the city schools’ central office.

Board members aired their concerns and asked questions about when the cameras will be operational, how the tickets will be enforced and why Rome High School was chosen.

“I have had more people ask me about this than anything I’ve had since I’ve been on the school board,” Will Byington, city school board member, said.

DeHart told the school board these cameras were necessary for the stretch of highway in front of Rome Middle and High due to the number of wrecks recorded since January. The 2-mile stretch of road between the Ga. 53 intersection and Riverside Parkway has seen over 100 wrecks with one of them resulting in a fatality, DeHart said. Rome High School sits in the middle of the corridor and with the cameras law enforcement should see a decrease in those numbers, he said.

Board Member Elaina Beeman questioned the nine-hour study conducted by law enforcement and RedSpeed USA, which documented 274 motorists traveling at least 11 mph over the speed limit of 45 mph. Beeman said she and others she has talked to feel like this study is targeting the students and families of the schools.

DeHart replied while some students may get ticketed, the main focus is to get people to slow down. If the schools can’t get the kids to slow down and neither can the parents, then it is up to the police, he said. Also, DeHart pointed out, city police only have six officers covering school zones with seven schools needing the coverage.

“Speeding in front of a school is dangerous,” he said. “People don’t like being told that they cannot do something.”

Tickets will only be issued during school hours, Park said, beginning an hour before school begins and ending an hour after it ends. The high-tech cameras will run 24/7 and can notify police of drivers who are wanted by police, potentially violating restraining orders by being too close to the school or if they are a registered sex offender.

Police would be able to live-stream the cameras or play them back at any point necessary.

If a speeding violation is registered, it will be sent to RedSpeed USA who will review it twice and then send the video footage and license plate photo to the police. The police will then decide whether or not a ticket should be issued.

Park said in response to a question from Jill Fisher, vice chair of the board, that once a ticket is sent, drivers will also have access to the video and photo evidence against them. They will have the option to pay a $75 fine or have their violation tried like a normal ticket.

“Which you have every right to do,” Park said. “Only about 3% take that option though.”

DeHart said the fine is much less of a penalty than if an RPD officer pulled a speeder over in a school zone. Officers can write tickets for 1 mph over the limit he said, and the tickets written by an officer put points on licenses, which usually results in raised car insurance costs.

This program puts no points on a driver’s license nor affects insurance costs and will only ticket speeders for going 11 mph over, Park said.

“So, is this a cash cow or a speed trap,” board member Alvin Jackson asked.

“Neither,” DeHart replied.

RedSpeed receives the money from the citations and takes 35% for their services and sends the remaining 65% to law enforcement for public safety purposes only. The cameras have been approved by the Georgia General Assembly and are being used in other counties as well, Park said.

If approved by the Rome City School Board, a permit from the Georgia Department of Transportation would need to be granted. State law requires RedSpeed USA to post warning signs for 30 days before tickets can be written. However violators will still get warnings by mail.

DeHart said if this program is successful and a reduction in speeders is seen, the department will consider moving the cameras to in front of Main Elementary, which was not in operation when the study was done.

City school board members decided to wait until the next board meeting before they vote on allowing or denying the cameras.

Beeman said she wants to see the study before she makes a decision.

Richard Edward Hazelwood, 49, of Roswell and Austin Wayne Rhodes, 22, and Mahesh Kumar Saroj, 35, of Alpharetta were among the 24 arrested in an undercover Forsyth County child sex sting, Forsyth police say.

“Operation Just Cause” was a four-day proactive effort centered in Cumming, Forsyth County. The suspects, ranging in age from 19 to 65, traveled from areas around North Georgia, and other states, with the intent to meet a child for sex.

Hazelwood was charged with distribution of child pornography. Rhodes is being charged with illegal solicitation, entice or seduction and electronically furnishing obscene material. Kumar is being charged with child molestation, trafficking and illegal solicitation, entice or seduction.

Two people that was arrested were registered sex offenders. Twenty-nine year-old Michael Keith Coker is already a sex offender and allegedly smuggled an illegally possessed phone smuggled inside the Augusta State Prison.

Roger Kyle Nicholson, 44, of Gainesville was arrested for allegedly possessing suspected methamphetamine.

Thirty-one mobile phones were seized as evidence during the operation.

The goal of “Operation Just Cause” was to arrest persons who communicate with children on-line and then travel to meet them for the purpose of having sex. Additionally, the operation targeted those that are willing to exploit children by purchasing sex with a minor.

Online child predators visit chat rooms and websites on the internet, find children, begin conversations with them, introduce sexual content and arrange a meeting with the children for the purpose of having sex.

During the multi-day operation, investigators had numerous exchanges with subjects on various social media or internet platforms. Many of those were exchanges in which the subject initiated contact with whom they believed to be a minor and directed the conversation towards sex. In some of those cases, the subject introduced obscene or lewd content, often exposing the minor (undercover) to pornography or requesting the child take nude or pornographic images for them.

Although some websites promote themselves as being for “adults-only” it is not uncommon for law enforcement to work cases in which children access these sites, establish profiles claiming to be older, and then find themselves vulnerable to victimization, harassment, blackmail, or assault.

Several subjects were identified as communicating simultaneously with multiple investigators posing as minors.

The following persons were arrested and charged in Forsyth County as part of “Operation Just Cause”:

♦ Robert Harley Martin, W/M, Dahlonega, GA, 38 years of age, truck driver

♦ Erik Delgado, W/M, Gainesville, GA, 26 years of age, sales associate

♦ Alan Thomas Bryant, W/M, Murrayville, GA, 40 years of age, unemployed

♦ Kyle Alexander Williams, B/M, Stone Mountain, GA, 32 years of age, landscaper

♦ Roger Kyle Nicholson; W/M, Gainesville, GA, 44 years of age, unemployed

♦ Jacob Perry Yeamans, W/M, Madison, Wisconsin, 61 years of age

♦ Rene Mauricio Posada; W/M; Marietta, GA, 29 years of age, sales manager

♦ Jackson Cain Butler, W/M, Calhoun, GA, 20 years of age, sales

♦ John Andrew Odell, W/M, Cumming, GA, 40 years of age, truck driver

♦ Michael Keith Coker, W/M; Augusta State Prison, 29 years of age, unemployed

♦ Richard Edward Hazelwood, B/M, Roswell, GA 49 years of age, drug representative

♦ Johnathon Dale Butler, W/M, Palmall, TN, 25 years of age, unemployed

♦ Mackenzi Faye Stinson, W/F, Palmall, TN, 19 years of age, sales associate

♦ Mahesh Kumar Saroj, W/M, Alpharetta, GA, 35 years of age, Information Technology

♦ Christopher Scott Taylor, W/M, Cumming, GA, 29 years of age, construction

♦ Joseph Ryan Lisnock, W/M, Gainesville, GA, 22 years of age, Landscaper

♦ Dylan Blair Nessmith, W/M, Johns Creek, GA, 23 years of age, mechanic

♦ Austin Wayne Rhodes, W/M, Alpharetta, GA, 22 years of age, Mechanic

♦ Daniel Dennis Rogan W/M, Witchita, KS, 47 years of age, Vehicle Transporter

♦ Jason Lee McIntyre, W/M, Gainesville, GA, 35 years of age, Supervisor

♦ Gavin Austen Peppers, W/M, Bowman, GA, 21 years of age, hotel clerk

♦ Jimmy Webster Roy, W/M, Gainesville, GA, 21 years of age, mover

♦ Anthony Christian Ceja, W/M, Lawrenceville, GA, 23 years of age, laborer

♦ Steven Charles Vinnenberg W/M, Cumming, Ga. 65 years of age

A former North Georgia theater director pleaded guilty to aggravated statutory rape charges in Hamilton County, Tenn., Friday, Sept. 6.

Thirty-two-year-old Joshua Conrad “JC” Smith, who founded and operated the Rossville-based Closed Door Entertainment theater company, was arrested in December on five charges of aggravated statutory rape after an investigation alleged he’d engage in sexual contact with two female minors.

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Smith on Dec. 12 over the actions that allegedly took place with the girls in early 2017. Smith was arrested two days later.

According to the Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office, Smith and his attorney stood before Judge Tom Greenholtz on Sept. 6 and entered a plea that had been agreed to by the victims and their families.

Per the plea agreement, Smith will serve six years of supervised probation under special sex offender conditions, which stipulate that he is not to have any contact with the victims or have any unsupervised contact with minors.

After the completion of the six-year sentence, Smith will be listed on Tennessee’s sex offender registry for an additional 10 years.

In the event that Smith violates the conditions of his probation, fails to report to his probation officer, or commits any additional crime, he’ll be required to serve the remainder of his sentence in jail.

Over the past decade, Smith has become a notable name in the North Georgia and Chattanooga performing arts scene.

In that time, Closed Door Entertainment produced shows at The Catoosa County Colonnade, and more recently at the Tivoli and Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga.

At the time of his arrest, Smith also served as choir director at Harrison United Methodist Church, but was suspended from that position after the charges surfaced.

During Sept. 6 hearing, one of Smith’s victims read an impact statement recalling how she stays up every night crying because she can’t get the image of Smith laying over her out of her mind.

“I know that you watched me grow up,” the victim read aloud. “You watched as I got taller and smarter. You watched me when I was in middle school. You watched, and you picked me to hurt.”

Cameras that snap pictures and send tickets to speeders in a school zone will likely be installed in front of Rome High School before the end of the year.

There are still several actions necessary to set it up, but a presentation on RedSpeed USA’s automated enforcement system drew support from board members at their Monday caucus.

“There’s a consensus that we’re going to be moving forward,” Mayor Bill Collins said.

Greg Parks with RedSpeed said the Georgia General Assembly approved the cameras in 2018 but the Georgia Department of Transportation just recently adopted the rules governing their use.

“They’re just going into effect now,” he told the board.

Two dozen other cities, including Duluth and Lilburn, are in the process of enabling the systems. Parks first went before the city’s public safety committee, which recommended the installation.

“We can’t always be all places at all times,” Police Chief Denise Downer-McKinney said. “This is just another avenue to safeguard our children.”

If the cameras are effective on Veterans Memorial Highway, she said plans are to install them next on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, to protect the Main Elementary School zone.

Rome City Schools Superintendent Lou Byars and his director of safety and security Jason Self back the plan, said Commissioner Milton Slack, who chairs the public safety committee. Slack said the school board would also have to sign off.

Parks said a nine-hour test in front of Rome High turned up 274 motorists traveling at least 11 mph over the speed limit of 45 mph.

That’s the minimum speed a motorist could receive a school-zone camera ticket under the state law. Citations would go to the owner of the vehicle.

Park said the law is “more conservative” than an older, challenged, statute that once allowed speed cameras at red lights around the city.

The cameras may be on only when school is in session and GDOT must approve the permits. Fines are set at $75, with no points charged against the license. There’s also a license plate recognition component.

“An example would be for people who have temporary protective orders against them or registered sex offenders – people who shouldn’t be near the school,” Park said.

The system would be at no cost to taxpayers. RedSpeed would get 35% of the revenue from fines and Rome would get 65%, which must be used for public safety purposes.

City Attorney Andy Davis said the City Commission would have to adopt an ordinance allowing the use. A first reading could be as early as Aug. 26, with adoption in September.

Park said it would take about 90 days to get the GDOT permit and install the cameras. There would be signage and flashing lights where the technology is in use and a 30-day warning period where violators would just get a notice in the mail.

“This should be a surprise to no one,” he said.