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Ga. deputy arrested for child porn

By Time Eberly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. State authorities arrested a Barrow County sheriff’s deputy Tuesday on child pornography charges after searching his Winder home and seizing computers and other electronic items.

The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office immediately fired Deputy Jason David Gaub, 32, after his arrest, Chief Deputy Murray Kogod said.

“We’re totally shocked,” Kogod said. “You would not expect this of a law enforcement officer. We certainly will not tolerate it of our law enforcement officers.”

Gaub is the second officer in metro Atlanta to face child porn charges in the past few weeks. Clayton County police Officer Casey Carmichael was arrested Sept. 16 on allegations he used the Internet to entice minors for sex.

Gaub, a deputy for four years who worked the night shift in the patrol division, was taken into custody at the Sheriff’s Office on 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

More charges could be filed, too, since the contents of Gaub’s computers have not been reviewed, said John Heinen, special agent in charge with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The investigation into Gaub began in June, when he came to the attention of GBI’s High Technology Investigations Unit.

Heinen would not say how agents built the case against Gaub, nor would he elaborate on the child pornography evidence.

Gaub continued to work his night shift while he was under investigation. The Sheriff’s Office did not have grounds to suspend him and had to let the probe run its course, Kogod said, adding that only a few people inside the department knew that Gaub was being investigated.

“It was extremely difficult,” Kogod said.

Gaub’s house on Casey Drive was searched Tuesday morning. He was not there at the time, Heinen said.

Kogod would not discuss Gaub’s on-the-job performance but said that the deputy never worked as a child porn investigator. The alleged crimes did not occur while he was on duty.

Copyright 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution