Police Arrest Church Deacon for Sexual Exploitation of Children

First Coast News
October 22, 2012

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/279065/483/Police-arrest-church-deacon-for-sexual-exploitation-of-children

Jones Rivers

The St. Marys Police Department arrested a deacon of a local Kingsland church on charges of sexual exploitation of children.

Police arrested Jones Rivers Wednesday, October 10 at 1:30 p.m., according to a news release from the St. Marys Police Department.

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Rivers after receiving a report in July 2012 from a local mandated reporter who indicated two children, ages 4 and 7, had possible been victims of child sexual abuse.

The investigation by the police department revealed Rivers allegedly touched the two children inappropriately on their "private areas." The release said Rivers also allegedly exposed the 7-year-old child to pornography on Rivers' home computer. Originally police arrested Rivers on two charges of child molestation and one charge of furnishing obscene materials to minors.

Police searched Rivers' home and seized multiple electronic devices. Detectives took computer hard drives, discs, homemade pornographic DVDs and other digital storage devices and sent them to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) for analysis.

The results of the analysis came back to the St. Marys Police Department in September, the release said.

Investigators found images of what appeared to be very young children engaged in sexual conduct on the computer hard drives. The release said those images were brought to a local area pediatric specialist and child medical forensic examiner to determine the children's ages. The pediatric specialist stated the images appeared to be of children ages 12 and younger.

During the investigation, the release said the St. Marys Police Department identified 112 pornographic DVDs which contained a variety of pornographic behavior ranging from homosexuality to beastiality. The release said the homosexual pornography appeared to involve teenage males but the exact ages of the participants has not yet been determined by police.

Detectives are asking anyone in the community who has children who may have been in contact with Jones Rivers and believes they may have been a victim to please contact the St. Marys Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 912-882-4488.