Richard Ensley, who now lives in Woodstock, was arrested during the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office two-day, multi-jurisdictional sweep to verify the addresses of 181 sex offenders living in the county.
The suspect was not a registered sex offender, but while officers were mobilized, they included the raid as part of the operation.
Ensley has been charged with 25 counts of sexual exploitation of children and is being held at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center without bond.
“Clearly, it’s the largest we’ve ever stumbled across in Cherokee County,” Garrison said. “We are still conducting forensic analysis of those computers.”
Garrison said Friday that the images and videos obtained from a search warrant executed Thursday night depict female children ranging in ages from infants to 16-year-olds.
The sheriff said investigators continue to process computers seized from Ensley’s home in Towne Lake, located in the 100 block of Grove Park Lane in the Deer Run subdivision, and that some images date back to 1995.
Neither Garrison nor any other investigators, including Maj. Ron Hunton, would say whether any local children were victims.
“We’ve been looking into the case for approximately a week,” Garrison said. “We’re just getting started and are trying to learn as much as we can.”
Garrison said investigators continue to work on looking into the identities of the victims.
“Identifying those victims as we move forward for prosecution is clearly what we’re doing and we’re just getting started,” Garrison said. “It will be a very complicated case but we will do everything we can do to make sure this gentleman serves every day he deserves and in my opinion, (I hope) he never steps outside of prison (for) an act this heinous.”
Lt. Jay Baker, spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, said more charges against Ensley are forthcoming.
Garrison said Ensley worked as a computer analyst in Cobb County and had recently moved from Cobb to Cherokee.
His arrest, among 16 others ranging from traffic charges to sexual exploitation of children during the two-day sweep, was part of an ongoing investigation by the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.
Baker said of the 213 registered sex offenders in the county, 32 are behind bars and 181 are living at addresses inside the county.
Officers verified 176 addresses and discovered two offenders have moved without informing the sheriff’s office, Baker said.
He said the remaining addresses will be verified over the next few days.
Assisting in the address-compliance operation were the Canton Police Department, Woodstock Police Department, Holly Springs Police Department and the Georgia Department of Corrections Probation and Parole Divisions.
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There are, however, several things that bother me about this.
(1) Why are officers talking about an ongoing investigation? What happens if they find out that he's innocent? The damage to his name has already been done...people are out for blood, I doubt he'd be welcomed back to his job - he would be in serious danger.
(2) It's an ongoing investigation and Garrison has already made up his mind about Richard. What kind of investigator makes up his mind before all the facts are in?
(3) I work in computers, and part of what I do is internet security. I have been a victim numerous times, both in my professional career and personal life, of computer crimes. I have had my IP used by others (via spoofing) to hack other machines, which then gets pinned on me. I've had my computers, both servers and desktop machines at work and my personal computers at home, hacked and messed with a number of times over the years. Finding a file on someones computer does not mean nor imply that they are the ones that put it there. The fact they haven't finished their forensic analysis of the computer furthers my frustration that Garrison has seemingly already decided on Richard's guilt.
(4) I wonder on what grounds the search warrant was issued, or if it was issued without any real cause because local judges have lost their integrity...wouldn't be the first time.
I make no conclusions about Richard's innocence or guilt, as I am not privy to the evidence...my point is that I see a pattern, in law enforcement and elsewhere in our government, that they have taken on the mantra, "The Ends Justify the Means."
The idea of Liberty and Justice specifically contradicts this idea. The ends do not justify the means, no matter what the means...ever.
Thoughts?
Either a very poor job of reporting/probing on the part of the MDJ or the sheriff is purposefully being vague about why they thought it was ok to violate this guys right of privacy ( this often happens when cops know they are on shakey ground but nonetheless want to take full advantage of looking like they are being "tough on crime"...even if it does wreck an (innoncent?) guys life.
In any event, the cops very definitely wanted to make political hay out of the matter. I guess the sheriff is up for election soon(?). I am always suspicious when elected law enforcement officials are grandstanding in front of their "law enforcement" efforts.