A Gainesville man is facing charges after a Georgia Bureau of Investigation sting operation led him to believe he was meeting a 14-year-old for sex.
Christopher White Batchelor, 49, was arrested Thursday as a continuation of "Operation Rattlesnake," an online sting that netted five arrests in Hall County last October, according to Brian Johnston, GBI assistant special agent in charge.
Batchelor, communicating with an undercover agent, had been speaking with the "teen" since October, finally agreeing to meet on Thursday, where he was taken into custody on charges of attempted child molestation, distribution of obscene material and enticing a child for indecent purposes.
"For a number of different reasons, the arrest was not made at the time of the [original] operation, but the undercover agent who was in communication with [him] maintained sporadic communication ... ever since last October," said Johnston when reached by phone.
In these sorts of operations, the undercover agents use a variety of messaging apps, social media platforms and other forms of communication to track down child predators -- an effort agents hope will send a message that nowhere is safe for predatory behavior, even the internet.
"Sometimes we even use online dating services and things of that nature, where we see a presence of online predators, or those who utilize these services for the purpose of child exploitation," said Johnston.
Batchelor is a taxi driver, according to the GBI.
