Bibb County Sheriff’s Deputy Found Guilty of Seeking Sex with Minor

After a three-day trial, a jury found GREGORY TODD BOWDEN, 43, of Byron, Georgia, guilty of attempting to entice a minor to engage in sex.

“Cases in which defendants seek to entice children to engage in sex are always disturbing; it is all the more shocking when the perpetrator is a member of our law enforcement personnel here in Georgia,” said Sally Quillian Yates, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. “Defendant Bowden’s sexual pursuit of a 7-year old girl has resulted in a noteworthy conviction that will keep him away from children for many years.”

According to Acting United States Attorney Yates and the evidence presented during the trial: BOWDEN, an eight-year veteran of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Department, frequented online chat rooms in which he engaged in fantasy role-playing about incest and other child sex acts. In October 2008, he befriended a woman online whom he believed to have a 7-year-old daughter. This woman—actually an undercover FBI task force agent—was willing to make her daughter available to BOWDEN for sex. In February 2009, BOWDEN and the mother, through additional chats, e-mails, and phone calls, agreed to meet for the purpose of having three-way sex: BOWDEN, the mother, and the 7-year-old daughter. On February 11, 2009, BOWDEN drove 110 miles from his home in Byron to Sandy Springs, where he expected to meet the mother and her daughter. He was arrested at the scene. Agent later recovered a computer from his home on which they found child pornography and other evidence of interest in incest and sex with minors.

BOWDEN faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years in prison; he could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison. In determining the defendant’s sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders. BOWDEN will be sentenced on March 16, 2010, at 2:30 p.m., before United States District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr.

This case is being investigated by agents and officers of the Atlanta Safe Child Task Force, which is led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Atlanta Division.

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