Wayne County Man Arrested for the Sexual Exploitation of Children

Screven, GA (August 11, 2020) – On Tuesday, August 11, 2020, Wayne County resident, Joseph Franklin Cartwright, 28, was charged with one count of Sexual Exploitation of Children (Possession of Child Pornography) by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit (CEACC). An investigation into Cartwright’s internet activity by the GBI’s CEACC Unit began after a report was received from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) related to the online sharing of child pornography by Cartwright via the internet. This investigation lead to a search warrant of Cartwright’s residence in Wayne County, GA, and subsequently Cartwright’s arrest. The GBI was assisted in the search warrant of Cartwright’s home by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office on August 4, 2020. 

Cartwright is currently in custody at the Wayne 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 other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit at 404-270-8870.