April 10, 2025
GBI Arrests Martin Man in Sexual Exploitation of Children Investigation
Martin, Franklin County, GA (April 10, 2025) – The GBI has arrested and charged Joshua Buckley, age 32, of Martin, Franklin County, Georgia, with Sexual Exploitation of Children.
In December 2024, the GBI CEACC Unit began an investigation into Buckley’s online activity after receiving a referral from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office regarding Buckley’s possible online possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. This investigation led to a search warrant of Buckley’s home and his subsequent arrest for 11 counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office Trafficking and Child Exploitation Unit, the GBI Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office, and the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Athens assisted with the search warrant and Buckley’s arrest.
Buckley, who was a registered sex offender, was booked into the Franklin County Jail.
This investigation is part of the ongoing effort by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, housed withinthe GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, to identify those involved in the trade of child sexual abuse material. The ICAC Program, created by the U.S. Department of Justice, was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the internet, the proliferation of child sexual abuse material, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.
Anyone with information about other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit at 404-270-8870 or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline at Cybertipline.org.
Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.