Airline Machinist Arrested on Charges of Sexual Exploitation of Children

Sharpsburg, Georgia (March 24, 2020) – On Monday, March 23, 2020, Airline Machinist Michael Wilkes, age 58, of Sharpsburg, Georgia was charged with 6 counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children (Possession of Child Pornography).  This arrest came after an investigation was conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), with the assistance of Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, into the possible sexual exploitation of children by Wilkes via an online service.

Wilkes is currently being held at the Coweta County Jail.

This investigation is part of the ongoing effort by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, housed within the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, to identify those involved in the child pornography trade. 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 pornography, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.

Anyone with information about this case or any other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Unit at 404-270-8870.