A metro Atlanta teen is facing years in prison after being accused of going online and threatening other teens to force them to send him explicit photos. Many refused, but police say many of the girls were so scared by his threats they did what he demanded.
Geovanni Jacob Adamson, a 17-year-old now-former Newnan High School student, was arrested on March 13, and is being held on two counts of child-computer pornography & child exploitation involving two alleged victims, ages 12 and 14. He is also being held on 21 counts of child sexual exploitation involving nine alleged victims who are teens older than 14.
He is being held in the Coweta County Jail on at least $12,000 bond.
According to Sgt. Jim Beneke of the Newnan Police Department, school officials suspended him when he was arrested. All of the girls involved are students at either Newnan High School or Evans Middle School.
"The youngest was 12; the oldest was 17," Beneke said.
Sgt. Beneke says a total of 17 girls have come forward with complaints against Adamson so far, and he says he expects to hear from more girls as their investigation continues.
Beneke says one of the school resource officers had received a report near the beginning of the month that "someone had received a text from an unknown number saying they had some nude photographs and that if they did not send more nude photographs to this subject, then he would expose them on social media."
Beneke told 11Alive that Adamson shielded his identity and was taking photos of the girls from their social media accounts and altering them.
"From what some of the victims told me, he was taking photos of the victims, photoshopping them, and then sending the photograph back to them after it had been altered -- making it appear that they had been nude, and saying that he was going to post that online and expose them," he said.
Once he contacted them, the girls were scared others would believe they were real nudes if the suspect shared them.
In addition, Beneke said that Adamson would threaten violence against the girls and their families if the girls did not send him actual explicit photos. Beneke said a lot of the girls ignored the threats, but many others were so scared by the threats they told no one and did what Adamson said.
Beneke says the crimes he has been investigating started early this year, but he does not yet know just how long this has been going on.
"What I'm investigating, I can roughly say, started in the January-February timeframe," he said. "I believe there may be more that goes back. I don't know how far."
Beneke advises parents to pay close attention to the social media habits of their children. While it will not eliminate online predators, it will make it far more difficult for them to prey on youngsters, and for the youth to get help when needed. He also advises the teens to go to a trusted adult when a situation like this presents itself. If not a parent, then perhaps someone at school. That also will help reduce the instance of online predators.
