Saucy talk in chat room leads to arrest

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

When Barrett D. Peavy thought he was setting up an illicit rendezvous with a 15-year-old girl Thursday morning, he was actually communicating online with an undercover Peachtree City police officer, police said.

Peavy, 36, of Newnan, was arrested at the Coweta County School System’s offices on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Newnan Thursday afternoon. He serves as the school system’s web designer, according to the school’s web site.

Peavy was charged with enticing a child for indecent purposes and violating the computer pornography and child exploitation act of 1999. Both charges are felonies.

Police said Peavy, who lives at 48 Briar Grove in the SummerGrove subdivision, thought the undercover officer he was conversing with online was actually 15 years old. Peavy was targeted by the investigation when he struck up an online conversation with Cpl. Heather Lackey in a chat room, said Peachtree City Police Chief James Murray.

Peavy even asked Lackey to send in a photo of herself, which she did, Murray added.

“In this particular community, most all of the kids have a computer, so they’re vulnerable to predators out there,” Murray said. “And sometimes, they’re left alone a lot.”

As the conversations continued between Peavy and Lackey, Peavy’s language got more sexually explicit, Murray said.

The investigation lasted over a month and involved numerous online conversations with Peavy, Murray said.

Peavy likely engaged in the online conversations with Lackey from his work computer, Murray added.

After the arrest, police served search warrants at his office and home, confiscating computers so they can be examined for further evidence in the case, Murray said.

Cpl. Lackey, who is a community response officer for Peachtree City, spends some of her time on Internet chat rooms and waits for someone to initiate contact with her, Murray said. The department has notified police agencies in other jurisdictions of its findings when a suspect is identified, Murray noted.

This is the first time the program has snared a local suspect, authorities said.

Although agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation offered to assist Peachtree City, Murray said he wanted the charges to be made on the local level because “we’ll get more prison time” by having them prosecuted in Fayette County Superior Court by District Attorney Bill McBroom.

Peavy faces a maximum of 30 years in prison based on the two felony charges alone, Murray said.

McBroom’s office funded the training for several police officers to learn how to investigate online sex crimes against children, Murray said. In the investigation of Peavy, McBroom and his assistants provided guidance to make sure there was enough evidence, Murray said.

“We just wanted to make sure it just wasn’t a one time thing,” Murray said.

Newnan police officers assisted in arresting Peavy, who was taken into custody without incident, Murray said. The Coweta County Board of Education has also “fully cooperated” with the investigation, police said.