GBI Arrests Lyerly Woman in Sexual Exploitation of Children Investigation

Lyerly, Chattooga County, Georgia (August 7, 2025) – On Tuesday August 5, 2025, the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Calhoun and the GBI CEACC Unit arrested and charged Lillian Hughes, age 32, of Lyerly, Chattooga County, GA, with 3 counts of Sexual Exploitation of Children and 1 count of Bestiality.

In July of 2025, the GBI began an investigation into Hughes’s online activity after receiving a referral from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office regarding Hughes’s possible online possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. This investigation led to a search warrant for Hughes’s home and her arrest.

The Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the search warrants and Hughes’ arrest.

Hughes was booked into the Chattooga 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.