Bainbridge, Decatur County, GA (February 12, 2025) – The GBI has arrested and charged Joseph Murphy, age 40, of Bainbridge, GA, with Sexual Exploitation of Children.

In October 2024, the GBI CEACC Unit began an investigation into Murphy’s online activity after receiving a Cyber Tipline Report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding the possible online possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. This investigation led to a search warrant for Murphy’s home and his subsequent arrest. The Decatur County Sheriff’s Office, the GBI regional investigative office in Thomasville, the Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office, and the GBI HEAT unit, assisted with the search warrant and Murphy’s arrest.

Murphy was booked into the Decatur 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 trade of child sexual abuse material. The ICAC Program, created by the US 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.

Contact

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Deanna Jury

[email protected]