A Clayton County youth minister was convicted Monday afternoon of using an online chat room to arrange a sexual encounter with a girl he thought was 15 years old.

Mohammad Leon Bolton, 31, of McDonough, was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by five years probation and a $25,000 fine by Fayette Superior Court Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr.

Bolton was arrested in October as part of an undercover sting operated by the Peachtree City Police Department. He is the first such defendant to go to a jury trial since the program began.

Police Chief James Murray said the guilty verdict was a victory for citizens because it shows the community will not tolerate adults arranging to have sex with local children.

“It’s a great victory for the community,” Murray said, noting that the verdict sends a message to others who have been arrested in the undercover operation.

In court Monday, jurors were presented with a sometimes-explicit transcript of instant messages that were exchanged between an undercover Peachtree City police officer and Bolton. The transcript showed that Bolton tried to arrange a meeting with the girl by sneaking in a window at her home.

Officer Heather Lackey testified that she arranged to meet Bolton at the Peachtree City Wal-Mart store instead after writing to Bolton that she was scared they would be caught.

“He said, ‘No, we won’t, I do it all the time,’” Lackey said Bolton replied to her fear.

Murray previously has said that comment was one reason officers moved quickly to arrest Bolton. Lackey’s first contact with him online was Oct. 25 and he was arrested the next day.

Bolton testified that when he entered the Wal-Mart, he had no intention of having sex with the girl he knew as “Shelby.”

“I just wanted to see if that person was trying to set me up potentially,” Bolton said.

Bolton said he wanted to confront “Shelby” because he thought she was underage and “playing a cat and mouse game” online. Bolton testified that he wanted to counsel “Shelby.”

“I said if she would have been 15 years old, I would have, because that’s what I do: I talk to teens who do crazy stuff,” Bolton testified.

Some of the language Bolton used in the instant messages was so graphic that he spelled out the words instead of saying them when he read back some of the transcript in court Monday. At one time, when “Shelby” asked if her being 15 was a problem, Mohammad replied: “Nope,” according to the transcript.

At another time, “Shelby” wrote in the transcript that she was scared, and Bolton replied that he was the one who should be scared because of what might happen to him because she was underage, Lackey testified.

In the transcript Bolton asked if “Shelby” would have sex with him, and he replied to her request for a photo of him by sending a picture of male genitalia.

Bolton admitted to sending the graphic picture, but said he did so because he thought he was being tricked by another person who he had made contact with months before. He also said he had gotten the photo from another person.

Lackey said Bolton was about 20 minutes late for their meeting at the Wal-Mart, so she called him on the cell phone number he had given her in an instant message. He told her he was about 10 minutes away, she said.

Lackey testified that Bolton nodded to her and briefly greeted her in the store before walking past her. Seconds later, an undercover officer put Bolton under arrest, she said.

After the handcuffs were on Bolton, Lackey hit redial on her phone to call Bolton’s cell phone, and sure enough the cell phone police confiscated from Bolton rang, she said. Lackey checked Bolton’s cell phone to insure it had registered the call as coming from the cell phone she was using at the time.

Bolton said he was on paid leave from the Church of the Harvest International in Jonesboro. He has been married almost four years, and his wife still supports him, he said, pointing to her while he testified from the witness stand.

Murray lauded the efforts of Lackey and prosecutor Randy Coggin in the case. He said the verdict confirmed the investigation was handled in a professional manner.

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