Child Molestation; Exploitation Are Charged

Two Jasper County men are free on $20,000 bond each after being charged late last week with differing crimes involving minors.

Steven Richard Quillen, 35, of a rural Jasper County address, was charged with child molestation for alleged sexual acts with a 15-year-old girl that took place between October, 2003 and January, 2004.

Roy Crawford Knox, III, of Monticello, is charged with sexual exploitation of children. Mr. Knox allegedly distributed child pornography via the Internet to undercover officers with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department in Wilmington, Ohio, according to a news release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
{{more}}
The investigation is being conducted by the GBI and the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department the announcement said, and it is expected that additional charges will follow. The charges resulted from an incident that occurred on March 7, 2003.

Mr. Knox was an officer with the Milledgeville Police Department until last Friday when he was arrested and charged. Chief Woodrow Blue said Monday that Mr. Knox no longer works there. He explained that all law enforcement officers serve a one-year probationary period after graduating from the academy. Mr. Knox was still in his first year.

Also, Mr. Knox has been asked to step down from his duties as a volunteer firefighter with the Jasper County Fire Services, Station 3, Monticello, per the standard operating procedure, according to Ronnie Payne, chief. He said the SOP says whenever a firefighter has felony charges pending, he cannot work until the case is settled.

Other warrants taken in Jasper County Magistrate Court over the last couple of weeks include charges of Violation of the Georgia Controled Substances Act against Ricky Dale Johnson, Steven Liszka, Jr., and Jeremy Shane Smith.
* * *
In other crime-related news this week, Jasper County employees and others who would have handled checks that were subsequently found in a stairwell at the Courthouse last Novemer are being fingerprinted this week. The fingerprint taking is to rule out as suspects those persons whose fingerprints are on the checks because they would have had legitimate reason to handle the checks.