Second child porn bust in Grovetown highlights changing face of investigative technology

Thursday, May 2, 2019

News 12 at 6 O'Clock/NBC at 7

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- The GBI has arrested a man charged with a child-related crime.

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office says a warrant was served at a home on the 400 block of Creekside Dr. for possession of child pornography.

Jordan Logan was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of children.

"I don't understand it," neighbor Holly Jones said. "It's gross."

Neighbor Ayla Gardler, a mother of three, is now a bit more on edge knowing about Logan's alleged crimes.

"Considering it's right where the kids like to play, it makes me very nervous, but it just proves that you don't know who you're living next to," Gardler said.

This is the second Grovetown home to be investigated for child pornography in less than a month.

"We have seen a marked increase in the amount of child pornography cases we work," Debbie Garner, a GBI agent in charge of child exploitation and computer crimes unit, said.

Garner says GBI has received approximately 500 tips a month from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That's an increase from the 180 tips a month they used to receive when Garner says she first started.

But investigators are getting better at tracking these cases.

"We have technology that we can use that can tell us when people are trading child pornography online," Garner said.

It's that kind of technology that puts Gardler at ease.

"I think that's kind of reassuring, the fact that law enforcement is actually doing something about it," Gardler said.

The GBI is not alone when it comes to finding criminals. All companies like Google or Facebook are required by federal law to report child exploitation activity.

Even though they aren't required to search for it, some companies actually spend plenty of money on technology to do that.