A Lula man is behind bars on felony grooming charges after an online undercover investigation that started earlier this year.
Hall County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Derreck Booth said Tuesday that the undercover operation took place, primarily, in September.
"Our suspect, 59-year-old Curtis Alan Haynie of Lula, was chatting online with a person he thought was under the age of 16," Booth said. "During those conversations, he committed three crimes...he is charged with grooming a child for indecent purposes, electronic furnishing of obscene material to a minor and electronic enticement of a child."
Investigators later executed a search warrant on Haynie's home on Old Cornelia Highway near Lula Road and seized several electronic devices on Monday, November 25. During that search warrant, they arrested Haynie.
"No charges related to those (electronic devices that were seized Monday) at this point, but additional charges are possible pending the outcome of forensic processing of those electronics," Booth said.
The sheriff's office said this is the first instance of an arrest in the county on grooming charges since House Bill 993 was signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp in April.
Haynie is being held in the Hall County Jail without bond. The GBI, the Floyd County Police Department and the Grovetown Police Department aided in the investigation.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2024/11/1274056/lula-man-arrested-in-grooming-investigation