A Cobb Superior Court Judge sentenced a Lyft driver to 35 years in prison Tuesday for raping a female passenger near her apartment in Cobb County in late 2016.
The Cobb District Attorney’s office said Jerome Antonio Booze, 40, of Decatur, was convicted by a Cobb Superior Court jury on Monday. Kim Isaza, a spokeswoman for the DA’s office, said the sentence was handed down by Judge Ann Harris.
Booze was charged in January 2917 after driving a female college student from a night of drinking at a bar in Atlanta to her Vinings apartment on Dec. 10, 2016. According to testimony at the trial, the woman’s friends called for a Lyft around 4 a.m. because she had become intoxicated and they didn’t want her driving home. They had been celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday.
According to prosecutors, the woman said she had flashbacks the next morning of having sex with someone, but said she had no memory of the Lyft ride or of getting home. She told her parents she had been raped and went to Grady Memorial Hospital for medical treatment before filing charges with Atlanta Police, who transferred the case to Cobb Police.
The attack occurred in the back seat of Booze’s car near her apartment building, according to prosecutors. Booze was indicted in February 2017.
Prosecutors said Booze initially told Cobb Police that he denied he had sex with the woman, then later said he did have sex with her but said she initiated it and that he didn’t know she was intoxicated.
During the trial, Booze testified that the woman held down his arm and climbed on him and reiterated that he didn’t know she was drunk.
That didn’t convince the jury, which convicted him on the sole charge of felony rape, Isaza said. Harris told Booze before sentencing that trial evidence showed the woman was incapable of giving consent.
“This predator exploited a position of trust and targeted a vulnerable, intoxicated female. This verdict demonstrates that those who prey on women who do not have the capacity to consent will be held accountable,” said Courtney Veal, Cobb assistant district attorney.
After his release from prison, Booze will serve the rest of his life on probation as a registered sex offender, Isaza said.
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Cobb Police said two teenage pedestrians were seriously injured Saturday night, one of them with life-threatening injuries, after being struck by a car in front of Wheeler High School on Holt Road.
Officer Neil Penirelli, a spokesman for Cobb Police, said they were hit at 7:01 p.m. Saturday in the crosswalk between Wheeler and the former East Cobb Middle School by a black 2007 Mercedes Benz SLK350 driven by Nancy Valentine, 73, of Marietta.
She was traveling northbound on Holt Road when the accident occurred, Penirelli said. He added that the teenagers, who were not identified, were taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
He said the accident is still being investigated and that anyone with information is asked to contact Cobb Police at 770-499-3987.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 7:54 P.M SATURDAY:
Shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday a reader contacted us to say that several police cars were spotted heading up Holt Road northbound, from Eastvalley Elementary School and toward Wheeler High School, and that emergency sirens also could be heard.
We got over there around 7:30 p.m. and police had blocked off Holt at Monterey Drive and Beckwith Trail, which is just above the Wheeler campus.
Cobb Police said there is an accident investigation that’s underway.
If you head southbound on Holt from Robinson Road, you’ll be diverted onto Monterey or Beckwith.
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A man who was working on an electrical project at an East Cobb home on Wednesday has died after a double shooting there, Cobb Police said Thursday afternoon.
Lisa Watkins Godsey and Jessica Godsey Smith, the aunt and cousin, respectively, of Jake Allen Horne, 21, of Kennesaw, left messages with East Cobb News earlier Thursday saying that he had died.
Police didn’t initially confirm that information. They said that Horne, who was shot in the head, and his boss, Gordon Montcalm, 37, of Buchanan, Ga., who was shot multiple times, were taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital after the shootings Wednesday afternoon at a residence in East Cobb.
They were listed in serious condition, police previously said.
Larry Epstein, 68, the homeowner of a residence at 1963 Wellington Lane, is being held without bond in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated battery, police said.
In a statement issued around 3:30 p.m. Thursday Cobb Police said the department’s “Crimes Against Persons Unit will be working with the District Attorney’s Office to upgrade the offense appropriately.”
Horne and Montcalm were at Epstein’s home, located in the Kensington neighborhood off Johnson Ferry Road, and had completed work for the day, around 2:25 p.m., when there was an argument between them and the homeowner, according to police.
The argument escalated, and police said Horne and Montcalm were shot by the homeowner. Sgt. Wayne Delk of Cobb Police said they still don’t know what led to the dispute.
Cobb Police sent a heavy presence into the community, located between Sewell Mill Road and Oak Lane, including a SWAT team, mobile command unit and helicopters, after someone called 911 about an active shooter there.
A Wellington Lane resident told East Cobb News the street was blocked off and she and other neighbors were ordered to stay inside for a time.
Epstein was taken into custody around 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and was booked overnight, according to Cobb Sheriff’s records.
Godsey said Horne was declared brain-dead Wednesday and life support was turned off Thursday morning.
Lisa Godsey, who lives in California and formerly resided in Cherokee County, told East Cobb News that her nephew was an apprentice electrician who was working for Montcalm. He had turned 21 only in January, she said.
“This is a boy that would give you the shirt off of his back. He had a heart of gold,” Godsey said about Horne in a message to East Cobb News. “He thought of everyone else before himself.”
Horne lived for a while in California, Godsey said, and “was best friends with my sons,” and later returned home to Georgia to be near his sister Sadie, who is a few years younger.
“My cousin was one of the victims,” Jessica Godsey Smith said. “Hope the man rots in jail for what he did to him.” She also left Horne a message on her Facebook page Thursday morning:
“We made plans for tomorrow night. My heart hurts so unbelievably much right now. You had such a great heart. You always had a smile on your face, to know you was to love you. And you were truly like a brother to me.”
Friends and family members said the Horne siblings lost their mother and father in recent years, and now Sadie Horne is planning her brother’s funeral.
Lisa Godsey said a Go Fund Me page has been set up for Horne’s funeral expenses.
“This is a very unfair thing,” Godsey said. “We demand Justice for Jake. Please show the world what has been taken. I pray that he is high in the heavens with his new wings.”
Cobb Police said their investigation into the shootings is continuing and that anyone with information should call 770-499-3945.
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“He should be lowering the millage rate,” East Cobb resident Patricia Benedict said after Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s town hall meeting Monday night. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Patricia Benedict brought her property tax bill and a good bit of pent-up frustration to a Cobb budget town hall meeting Monday night at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
As she listened to Commission Chairman Mike Boyce lay out his fiscal year 2020 budget priorities that do not call for a millage increase, she grew even more animated by what she was hearing.
While supportive of additional funding for many of the services Boyce was touting—public safety in particular—she finally stood up, took a microphone and told him that her tax bill has gone up 41 percent in the last three years.
“It’s not sustainable,” said Benedict, who bought her home with her husband in the Barnes Mill Road area in 2014. “You should be having a millage decrease. I want services, but I can’t afford this. When property values go up, the millage should go down.”
Benedict said after the meeting that she estimates around 75 percent of her tax bill is for schools. She has written elected officials, including new Cobb school board member Charisse Davis, who represents part of East Cobb.
She said the school part of her tax bill has gone up by even more, 53 percent in the last three years, although the Cobb schools millage rate hasn’t gone up since 2007.
“I am concerned the school board is not controlling costs and is going to tax me out of my home,” Benedict wrote to Davis. “Please explain to me why the school board is not decreasing the millage rate in a period of rising home prices?
(Davis wrote in response that she doesn’t favor reducing the millage rate, saying 92 percent of Cobb educational costs are personnel-related and that the district is having to fund more and more expenses that are typically covered by the state. “We still have not been able to replace the number of teachers we had before the 2008 recession. We also have the lowest administrative costs among the larger Atlanta-metro school districts,” Davis said.
Boyce explained to Benedict during the town hall that homes are taxed at 40 percent of their assessed value, with another 10 percent reduction for a permanent homestead exemption for the county’s general fund. The only school tax exemption in Cobb is for homeowners 62 and older.
“Your concern is a legitimate one,” he said to Benedict, who rattled off some things she’s doing without to save money. “Who here has less expenses than last year?”
2020 priorities
A few dozen people turned out for Monday’s town hall, which also covered upcoming transportation and transit initiatives (we’ll detail those in a future post).
Last July, Boyce got a 1.7 mills increase for $454 million in county general fund spending by a narrow 3-2 vote in what he called a “restoration” budget, after claiming Cobb government was facing a $30 million deficit.
The additional revenue is being used to hire police officers and extend public library hours, among other features.
For FY 2020, Boyce wants to hire more police officers, further extend Sunday library hours and give all county employees a three percent cost-of-living-raise, something they haven’t had in five years, keeping an 8.46 general fund millage rate.
Costs are also going up for pension and health care obligations for county employees, and he’s proposing to reduce revenues transferred from the Cobb water system by $2.8 million.
He hasn’t submitted a formal budget proposal yet, but is conducting town hall meetings around the county this month (see bottom of this post for the schedule).
Even with a record Cobb tax digest of 36.7 billion in 2018, and a bigger one projected for this year, Boyce said the cost of services continues to rise as the county grows.
He said around 10,000 new residents typically move into Cobb every year, and while they contribute additional tax revenues, “they do not offset the greater costs of services.”
Benedict responded: “Then keep those libraries closed on Sunday.”
“We fall behind at the more experienced level,” Boyce said in reference to the departure of police officers in Cobb.
Boyce replied that many citizens, especially in East Cobb, were vocal about not only keeping libraries open, but having them open longer. The Sewell Mill branch has longer Saturday hours, and the Mountain View Regional Library is open on Sunday afternoons.
“Last year people came out because they wanted to keep their amenities,” he said.
Public safety concerns
This year, Boyce and some citizens at the town hall meeting expressed grave concerns about public safety staffing.
Susan Hampton, a community civic leader who organizes the East Cobb Business Association’s annual public safety appreciation dinners, said “the crisis is already here.”
Before the meeting a flyer was handed out with her name and the Cobb Fraternal Order of Police chapter listed as contacts. It detailed retention issues with seasoned officers, less-than-ideal salaries and benefits, older patrol cars, police officers not having sufficient backup on calls and a shortage of sheriff’s deputies at the Cobb jail. According to the flyer:
“We have the same number of uniform officers on duty today as we did 20 years ago. We have 167,000 more citizens in Cobb today than we did in 1999. Calls are increasing 4% to 5% every year, yet we are expecting the same number of officers from 20 years ago to keep our county safe!”
Similar sentiments have been expressed at recent commission meetings by Cobb FOP. Last year, Cobb hired 48 police officers, but lost 72 others. Already this year, nine officers have departed or are in the process of leaving.
“We are on fire,” Hampton said. “But it’s not on your mind because you don’t know about it.”
“We’re not where we need to be with public safety,” Boyce said, adding that hiring of officers will be gradual, given a six-month training period at the start for each new hire.
He acknowledged that the loss of mid-rank, mid-career officers and other law enforcement personnel is serious.
“We know about it, but it’s going to take some time to fix it.”
The remainder of Boyce’s town hall schedule this month is as follows, with sessions at 3 and 7 p.m. each day:
Thursday, March 7 – Cobb Senior Services, Marietta
Monday, March 11 – Freeman Poole Senior Center, Smyrna
Wednesday, March 13 – South Cobb Community Center
Thursday, March 14 – North Cobb Senior Center
Tuesday, March 19 – West Cobb Senior Center
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Cobb Police are saying this morning that the two people shot suffered serious injuries and were taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
They are Gordon Montcalm, 37, of Buchanan, Ga., and Jake Horne, 21, of Kennesaw. Officer Neil Penirelli, a spokesman for Cobb Police, said Montcalm suffered multiple gunshot wounds and Horne was shot in the head.
Both men were at the Wellington Lane home doing electrical contracting work, and the shootings took place as they were trying to leave the residence at the end of the work day, around 2:25 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
UPDATED, THURSDAY, 8:50 A.M.:
We’re still awaiting further information from Cobb Police about Wednesday’s double shooting in an East Cobb neighborhood, but Cobb Sheriff’s Office records show that a Wellington Lane resident was booked overnight.
He’s Larry Epstein, age 68, of 1963 Wellington Lane. He’s facing four felony counts, two for aggravated assault, and two for aggravated battery, and is being held without bond at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
UPDATED, 4:30 P.M.:
A man has been taken into custody and the two people shot have been taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital. No names or conditions of any of the individuals have been released.
Cobb Police said the incident resulted from a dispute with home contractors and that another person was questioned as a witness.
Sgt. Wayne Delk of Cobb Police said that the Crimes Against Persons Unit is continuing the investigation as law enforcement personnel are leaving the scene.
ORIGINAL STORY, 3:25 P.M.:
Cobb Police are at the scene of a double shooting at a residence on Wellington Lane in East Cobb.
Sgt. Wayne Delk, a Cobb Police spokesman, told East Cobb News around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday that two people have been shot, but there’s no word yet on their condition.
He said that’s all the information he has for the moment, including a specific address.
A reader told East Cobb News there’s heavy police presence on that street, and that she saw SWAT personnel headed to the scene.
Wellington Lane is a residential street in the Kensington subdivision, south of Oak Lane and north of Sewell Mill Road.
A Kensington resident told East Cobb News that “they have us pretty blocked in but not giving any info. They are in SWAT gear with guns drawn.”
She said police have been on the scene since right before 3 p.m.
The police presence included a mobile command truck.
Cobb DOT is saying there are major traffic delays along Johnson Ferry northbound near Sewell Mill Road due to the police activity.
We’ll be updating this story.
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From the Cobb Fire & Emergency Services Department comes word that staffers at the Cobb Fire Station 15 (3892 Oak Lane) were recently recognized by Gov. Brian Kemp for coming to the scene of a cardiac arrest situation at the Northeast Cobb YMCA, along with the MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service.
Lt. Stephen French, Engineer Darrell Freeman and Firefighter Mele Miller were joined by two bystanders in rendering assistance on the scene.
Here’s what the department is sharing with the public about the recent incident:
William Vincent, 63, was running on a treadmill at the YMCA in East Cobb when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. YMCA employee Kevin Lee heard Mr. Vincent collapse and he immediately started CPR.
Another bystander, Dixie McCombs, called 911 and brought the Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to Kevin who then shocked the patient.
Engine-15’s crew arrived on the scene along with EMT Logan Harris with MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service.
Cobb Fire is so proud of our crew, so thankful for our friends at MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service & in awe of Kevin & Dixie’s courage that day in saving a truly wonderful man’s life.
Thank you to Georgia House Rep. Matt Dollar & Michael Charles of Better Outcomes for bringing attention to this great story.
Please use this as a reminder to recognize & help a fellow person in need.
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Some Cobb school buses are equipped with cameras to photograph license plates of stop-arm violators.
When your kids return to school next week, a revision to a Georgia law regarding bus stop-arm requirements for motorists will have been put into place.
As Cobb students were letting out for their winter break this week, Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday signed SB 25, which clarifies language for when drivers must stop for buses on divided roadways.
The law passed by the General Assembly last year contained vague language about when motorists traveling in the opposite direction from a bus with the stop-arm extended had to stop.
The revision mandates that those vehicles must now stop on divided roads or highways unless there is a physical barrier between the two directions of traffic.
Along a road that is divided by a center turn lane or double yellow lane stripes, vehicles heading in the other direction must stop. The law passed in 2018 made that unclear.
However, if a road is divided by a grass or unpaved median or a raised barrier, vehicles traveling in the opposite direction do not have to stop.
All traffic on two-lane roads must stop for stopped buses, as has been the case since before last year’s legislation.
School Transportation News said two students in Georgia have been hit since the law was passed last year, one of them fatally, by vehicles that ran bus stop-arm signs.
SB 25 passed unanimously last week, 171-0 by the House and 55-0 by the Senate. It was the first bill signed into law by Kemp since he became governor in January, and it went into effect immediately.
State public safety agencies, including the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, released the following graphic to illustrate changes in the law.
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Submitted information about next month’s Cobb Police job fair:
Come join our team of men and women who have stepped up to experience one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, opportunities out there! The Cobb County Police Department will be hosting a Job Fair March 29-31 at the Cobb County Public Safety Training Center located at 2109 Valor Drive, Marietta. The goal of this job fair is to expedite the hiring process by completing:
Physical Agility Test:
25 push-ups within one minute 30 sit-ups within one minute 300-meter sprint within one minute, six seconds (1:06) 1.5 mile run within 15 minutes, 54 seconds (15:54) Click here for more details.
Interview with an Internal Affairs Investigator **
Polygraph Exam **
Psychological Exam **
** Conditional upon passing the PAT ** Come as you are between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Please wear appropriate clothing for PAT; change of clothes for additional testing is optional. A Photo ID is required. Snacks and water will be provided. To expedite your process, please apply online at: https://cobbcounty.peopleadmin.com/postings/search click on: Police Officer I. Any questions, please contact Internal Affairs at 770-528-3812.
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An Atlanta child psychologist who worked out of an office in East Cobb has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to molestation and exploitation charges, including posting a photo online of a girl he victimized in Cobb County in 2017.
The Cobb District Attorney’s Office on Friday said that Jonathan Gersh, 38, pleaded guilty to six counts of child molestation and four counts of sexual exploitation of children.
Cobb Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster ordered Gersh to serve 20 years in prison and 20 more on probation, according to the Cobb DA’s office.
Prosecutors said the acts took place at the victim’s home at an unincorporated Marietta address. She was eight years old at the time.
Gersh was associated with Intown Psychological Associates, which had several offices in metro Atlanta, including one at 1744 Roswell Road in East Cobb.
A woman psychologist who had been dating Gersh told the court she had been “manipulated” into a relationship with him so he could have access to her daughter, and she called him a “selfish, perverted, manipulative sociopath,” according to the DA’s office.
Gersh was arrested Feb. 14, 2018, after Cobb authorities were alerted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which had gotten a tip from Australian law enforcement of an IP address which contained graphic images of child pornography, according to prosecutors.
The DA’s office said Cobb Police got a search warrant on Gersh’s mobile phone, and found more photos of what was termed “child erotica,” including images of children in bathing suits in public places.
“He is an opportunist. He is a child molester. And, he’s an exploiter of children in the worst way,” Cobb Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring said.
“These pictures are not baseball cards to be traded. This is pure and simple sex trafficking,” Schuster said in court.
Gersh, who has been in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center since his arrest, will be given sex offender status following his release from prison, the Cobb DA’s office said.
“Aside from this conduct, he’s led an exemplary life,” Gersh’s attorney, Richard Grossman, told the court.
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Marietta Police are suspecting foul play and asking for the public’s help as they investigate the death of a woman whose body was found near Bells Ferry Road Tuesday.
Police said they were called to the area of Bells Ferry and Cobb Parkway North for another reason early Tuesday morning when they found a dead woman in the woods near the intersection.
She has been identified as Kelley Albertson, 57, of Marietta. Police said the preliminary report from the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office “ruled this a suspicious death.”
Police did not say how or when she died.
But they are asking anyone who recognizes Albertson or who may have information on her whereabouts during the last week to contact Marietta Detective Mark Erion at (770) 794-5363.
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An East Cobb man is being held without bond after being arrested for aggravated sodomy, assault and other charges on Sunday.
Kendal Chaves, 34, of Lerose Court, was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on felony charges of aggravated sodomy, aggravated assault and first-degree burglary and a misdemeanor charge of battery, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
He also is charged with driving under the influence of drugs, a misdemeanor.
WSB-TV, which first reported the incident, said the charges stem from the sexual assault of a woman at her home on Colony Drive Friday morning.
That’s in the Lake Colony neighborhood just east of Johnson Ferry Road, and below Little Willeo Road. Chaves’ listed address on Lerose Court is located off Woodlawn Drive, near Dickerson Middle School.
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A Roswell woman was hospitalized Saturday afternoon after her car crashed near Lassiter High School.
Officer Neil Penirelli, public information officer for Cobb Police, said Cynthia Downing, 71, was driving her white 2007 Toyota Corolla eastbound on Shallowford Road around 5:05 p.m. Saturday when she lost control of her car, which ventured into the center median and hit two trees.
He said that a passerby started CPR on Downing after noticing she was unresponsive, and police think she may have had a medical emergency. Downing was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital and was being treated there, Penirelli said.
The accident is still being investigated. Anyone with information should call the Cobb County Police Department at 770-499-3987.
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Cobb Police are investigating the death of a motorist near Jamerson Road Sunday morning.
Officer Neil Penirelli of Cobb Police said that Darius J. Sanders, 33, of Marietta, was identified as the driver of a silver 2014 Chevrolet Malibu that was involved in a single-vehicle accident on Twisted Oak Lane.
Penirelli said the wreck occurred between 4 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. The Malibu was heading south on Twisted Oak when it struck a metal arm, which smashed into the passenger compartment.
That contact “caused fatal injuries to the driver,” he said.
He said the area around the crash scene is near a subdivision that’s under construction. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department at 770-499-3987.
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Marietta Police said a 61-year-old man was killed Friday morning when he was attempting to cross South Marietta Parkway near Powers Ferry Road and was hit by two vehicles.
Police said the man was walking across the loop outside of a designated crosswalk around 5:30 a.m. when he was struck by a car driven by James Stein, 45, of Marietta.
Police said a second motorist, Dustin Little of Roswell, could not avoid hitting the victim, who had been knocked to ground on the road and was unresponsive.
The victim, whose name has not released pending notification of family, died after being taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, according to police.
All but one westbound lane of the South Marietta Parkway was closed to traffic for a time, starting at 6 a.m., as police investigated the scene.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Marietta Police Sgt. B. Honea at 770-794-5344.
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Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds is leaving his post to head the state’s main law enforcement agency.
On Friday Gov. Brian Kemp announced he had selected Reynolds to become director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“Vic Reynolds is a courageous leader with unmatched experience,” Kemp said in a statement. “As District Attorney, Vic led efforts to dismantle gangs and protect local families from crime and violence. As GBI Director, he will work around the clock to ensure a safer, stronger Georgia.””
Reynolds is a Republican whose second term is up in 2020. He supported Kemp’s gubernatorial campaign and served on his transition team after the 2018 election.
“I look forward to continuing my service alongside dedicated law enforcement professionals from all across our state,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Our top priority from day one will be to ensure a safer, stronger Georgia.
Reynolds also has led numerous anti-gang initiatives in his time as Cobb’s top prosecutor. In his inaugural address last month, Kemp said one of his priorities will be to set up a statewide anti-gang task force within the GBI that would work with local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies.
More recently Reynolds has been addressing sex trafficking activity, and his office has filed a lawsuit threatening the owners of a Windy Hill Road motel with forfeiture of its property.
A native of Rome, Reynolds is a former police officer and was an assistant district attorney in Fulton and Cobb. He served as Cobb Chief Magistrate Judge and as a private criminal defense attorney before being elected Cobb District Attorney in 2012.
The Cobb DA’s vacancy will be filled by a Kemp appointee until the 2020 election.
That position is one of several countywide offices that will be up for election in two years, including Cobb Commission Chairman, Cobb Sheriff and some partisan judicial posts.
Those seats, like the DA’s office, have long been held by Republicans. But Democrats have made significant gains in recent elections across Cobb. Hillary Clinton won Cobb County in the 2016 presidential election, and Stacey Abrams carried the county over Kemp in the 2018 governor’s race.
Democratic candidates also won Cobb in last year’s elections for lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, school superintendent and other Georgia constitutional offices, although Republicans ultimately prevailed in statewide voting.
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A former Kell High School teacher who pleaded guilty last week to sexually assaulting a student on campus will serve five years in prison.
That’s the sentence that was handed down to Spencer Herron by Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy, who also gave the former video production instructor 15 years on probation.
Court records show that Herron, 49, who was arrested on June 1, 2018, pleaded guilty last Friday to five counts of sexual assault on a student on the Kell campus.
They involved multiple sexual encounters with a female student that started in 2016, and continued through the 2017-18 school year, according to his indictment in August.
According to his sentencing document, Herron was given sex offender status by Flournoy. As a first-time offender, Herron could have his criminal record cleared if he meets the terms of his probation.
After his release from prison, he is not allowed to have any contact with minors, take up a residence with minors or contact with the victim. He also must abide by other restrictions while on probation.
Herron was a teacher at Kell for 16 years and was the school’s teacher of the year in 2016. In what turned out to be his final year as a teacher, Herron was a member of the Cobb County School District’s Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council.
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An East Cobb man initially suspected of human trafficking in a 2016 search of a home on Little Willeo Road has been sentenced on multiple drug convictions, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
Solomon Santana Noellin, 42, was convicted on Thursday by a Cobb Superior Court jury of possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute, possession of methadone with intent to distribute, and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, as well as possession of cocaine and Alprazolam, according to DA spokeswoman Kim Isaza.
She said Noellin was given a 30-year sentence by Superior Court Judge Joyette Holmes, with eight years to serve and the rest on probation.
According to Cobb prosecutors, law enforcement executed a search warrant at a rented home on Little Willeo Road in East Cobb on Aug. 9, 2016, based on allegations that sex trafficking activities were taking place there.
When they entered the home, police found cocaine, methamphetamines and other controlled substances and executed a second search warrant, Isaza said.
She said that agents from the Marietta-Cobb-Smyrna Organized Crime Unit confiscated 61 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamines; three grams of cocaine; 49 methadone pills; more than 350 grams of marijuana; and one bar of Alprazolam at the Little Willeo Road home.
Isaza said two women who were at the scene during the first search warrant denied they were there for trafficking purposes.
According to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records, Noellin’s home address is listed as being on Canton Road.
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Earlier this week, they announced another school safety measure. It’s the SafeSchools Alert tip line, and it will launch on Tuesday, when classes resume following the Martin Luther King holiday.
Students, teachers, staff and parents can contact the school district online, via text or phone and e-mail about any matter that they think might affect safety.
This information can include, but is not limited to, bullying, harassment, drugs, vandalism and threats of violence, and reports can be made anonymously. However you get in touch, you’re asked to provide the “1760” code number, which has been designated for Cobb schools.
Here’s more from what CCSD issued earlier this week about the program:
Every tip submitted through the SafeSchools Alert will be immediately logged and routed to the appropriate administrator to investigate and take appropriate action.
The SafeSchools Alert tip line does not replace 911. For emergencies, please dial 911.
“We are seeking information that can allow the school to better address the school climate issues that cause students anxiety or fear and are not being addressed because people are afraid to share the information,” Cobb County School District Police Officer Phil Bradford said.
“We are trying to become more aware of what is going on. We are asking for information from all quarters of the school so we can become preventive, and we can be more proactive.”
Cobb schools said the SafeSchools tip line builds on the AlertPoint system that’s used when there’s a safety concern within school facilities.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
In his first State of the State address, Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday he wants to give Georgia teachers a pay raise of $3,000 a year, launch a number of school safety measures and create a statewide task force to crack down on criminal gangs.
Speaking in the Georgia Capitol after being sworn in earlier this week, Kemp said the teacher pay increase will cost $480 million annually, but represents “a large down payment” on his campaign pledge of funding a $5,000 year raise.
In his remarks, he noted that 44 percent of teachers in the state leave the profession in their first five years.
Kemp’s proposed fiscal year 2020 budget of $27.5 billion would also include a two percent pay raise for all state employees that would cost $120 million.
School safety measures also highlight Kemp’s first budget, following a special legislative study committee that toured the state last year.
The former Georgia Secretary of State, Kemp, a Republican, defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams in a close election in November. While Abrams, the former state House Minority Leader, won Cobb County, Kemp prevailed in most East Cobb precincts.
Kemp is proposing $69 million in one-time funds for school security grants, with all Georgia K-12 schools receiving $30,000 each. Those priorities would determined by their local school boards, administrators, teachers, parents, and students.
Kemp also wants to provide $8.4 million in additional funding for the Apex program, which addresses mental health in Georgia high schools. Georgia has been at the bottom nationally in providing funding to help students with mental health care needs.
He would spend $500,000 to form a gang task force within the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that would work with local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies.
The proposal would be to use the Criminal Gang and Criminal Alien Database, to be funded with existing resources from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, to track and arrest criminal gang leaders, including drug kingpins.
Kemp also said he will pursue a state Medicaid waiver and is earmarking $1 million in the Department of Community Health’s budget to pursue possible options to the current program “that increases choices, improves quality, encourages innovation and grows access to affordable healthcare across the state.”
We will be adding reaction from Cobb officials when we get it.
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Two women were arrested on Tuesday night on drug-related charges near Keheley Elementary School in Northeast Cobb.
According to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records, Brenda Craver, 63, and Latricia Patton, 40, were taken into custody at 4263 Keheley Road, located around the corner from the school on Keheley Drive.
Craver, of an Acworth address, is facing three felonies, including possession of methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute and possession of a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of an elementary school. Her bond is $27,720, according to jail records.
Patton, of a Keheley Road address, is charged with possession of methamphetamine and several misdemeanor drug counts, and her bond is $6,820.
Both women are charged with a misdemeanor count of prowling, according to jail records, which indicate they are still in custody.
WSB-TV, which first reported the arrests, said neighbors notified the police after noticing an unfamiliar and suspicious truck at a nearby building.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
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