A Flowery Branch man will spend eight years in prison after he was sentenced earlier in January in connection with a large child pornography bust from April 2023.
Joshua Spratlin Rivers, 40, entered a guilty plea in a Hall County Court on Jan. 2 to 11 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, according to court documents.
Superior Court Judge Jason Deal sentenced Rivers to 20 years, with the first eight years in prison and the remainder on probation. Rivers must also follow sex offender special conditions, per his sentence. Additionally, he was ordered to pay $4,100 in fees. The payment can be offset by any money spent on treatment by Rivers.
Rivers was arrested on April 26, 2023, on 1,211 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The Hall County Sheriff's Office previously told AccessWDUN that investigators executed a search warrant on Rivers' home and seized about 15 of his electronic devices. They found hundreds of images of child pornography saved to multiple devices in his home. He allegedly committed the offenses over eight months between Sept. 1, 2022, and the day of his arrest.
