The former Douglas County elementary school principal arrested in a child sex sting in March has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
A federal warrant was issued Tuesday for the arrest of ex-Mt. Carmel Elementary School principal John Harold McGill, who is accused of trying to arrange sex with a 13-year-old via the Internet and text messages, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution learned.
“The defendant … using a means of interstate commerce, knowingly attempted to persuade, induce, and entice an individual who had not attained the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity,” the indictment reads.
McGill was one of 14 people charged with felonies after an undercover investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit.
Prosecutors said McGill responded to a Craigslist “casual encounters” ad March 1 that purported to be from a mother looking for someone to offer her “young teen daughter some … fatherly attention.”
They said that after exchanging emails and texts with a police officer pretending to be the mother, McGill drove from his Villa Rica home to Lithonia for a sexual rendezvous with the daughter. Police and GBI agents arrested him when he arrived.
McGill’s attorney Mac Pilgrim could not be reached for comment Friday. After his client’s probable cause hearing in March, he said no illegal contact was ever made with a child.
McGill, who was released from jail on $50,000 bond after his arrest, was ordered to stay away from minors and not have unsupervised contact with his three stepchildren, ages 9, 14 and 17.
He resigned as principal of Mt. Carmel Elementary School on March 14, Douglas County School System spokeswoman Karen Stroud said.
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