A Dawson County man was arrested Tuesday for the alleged possession of child pornography.
According to a press release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, James Ricky Wiggins, 55, was arrested at his home in Dawson County as part of a multi-agency investigation.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit began an investigation into Wiggins after receiving a request for assistance from the Parkersburg Police Department in West Virginia. Investigators from Parkersburg had obtained an arrest warrant for Wiggins for use of obscene matter with intent to seduce a minor.
A Parkersburg Investigator and GBI agents found Wiggins at his Dawson County home where he was arrested on the West Virginia charges. A search warrant was also executed at his home, and authorities reportedly found Wiggins in possession of child sexual abuse material. The findings resulted in Wiggins being charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of children by the GBI.
Wiggins was booked into the Dawson County Jail following his arrest.
The Parkersburg Police Department is an affiliated member of the West Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the GBI's CEACC Unit is the host agency for the Georgia ICAC Task Force.
"The investigation is part of the ongoing effort by the ICAC Task Forces to identify those involved in the trade of child sexual abuse material and technology-facilitated crimes against children," the release reads. "The ICAC Program, created by the U.S. 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 should contact the GBI at (404) 270-8870, or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org. Anonymous tips can all be submitted by calling 1 (800) 597-8477, online here or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
