A Barrow County Grand Jury indicted seven men on electronic child exploitation charges stemming from an ongoing investigation by the Barrow County Sheriff's Office Crime Task Force to catch online predators.
According to a recent release by Statham Police Chief Steve Martin, since May, the Statham investigator assigned to the Barrow County Sheriff's Office Crime Task Force has arrested six men for traveling to Statham to have sex with a person they thought was a 13 year old female. Auburn Police Department investigator caught one of the seven men.
Of the seven indicted were:
• Garrett Gregory Fiddyment, 20, of High Grove Road in Milton, was charged with two counts of electronic exploitation of a child, one count of using a computer to seduce a minor and one count of attempting to entice a child for indecent purposes.
• Gerald Godina, 49, of 18 Herald Drive in Bethlehem, was charged with three counts of electronic exploitation of a child and one count of attempting to entice a child for indecent purposes.
• Lewis Alexander Hicks, 39, of Albany, was charged with seven counts of electronic exploitation of a child.
• Vishalkumar M. Patel, 26, of 200 Six Flags Parkway, Austell, was charged with electronic exploitation of a child and attempting to entice a child for indecent purposes.
• Jason Chandler Upchurch, 28, of 355 State St., Commerce, on one count electronic child exploitation, one count criminal attempt to entice a child for indecent purposes and one count criminal attempt to commit sexual exploitation of a child.
• Jeffrey Samuel Rich, 36, of 2262 Springdale Drive, Snellville, on three counts electronic child exploitation and count criminal attempt to commit sexual exploitation of a child.
• James Christopher Redman, 50, of 705 Powers Ferry Road, Marietta, on two counts electronic child exploitation, one count criminal attempt to entice a child for indecent purposes and one count criminal attempt to commit child molestation.
Fifty-five people in total were indicted by a grand jury Aug. 1, according to the Clerk of Superior Court. All indictments were true bills.
