Two men, including a youth sports referee, were arrested Tuesday following weeks-long underage sex stings conducted by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Brent Parton of Canton and Mark Andrade of Dalton were apprehended after separate four-week investigations into their internet activity, Cherokee sheriff’s spokesman Jay Baker said.
Parton, 38, was charged with two counts of obscene internet contact with children and sexual exploitation of children. He thought he was speaking with a 12-year-old, Baker said.
Parton was a referee for the county’s recreation and parks basketball league in addition to being an umpire with Dizzy Dean Baseball for years, Channel 2 Action News reported.
“Total shock — I couldn’t believe it,” Chris Landry, national director for Dizzy Dean Baseball, told Channel 2. “You never know what people do in their personal lives.”
Landry said Parton was removed as an umpire after hearing about the allegations. The county told the news station it contracts its umpires, and Parton will not be allowed to umpire again.
He was taken into custody during a traffic stop along Knox Bridge Highway in Canton and is being held without bond at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center, Baker said. Channel 2 reported he was leaving Joseph Knox Elementary School, where he was officiating a basketball game.
Andrade, 26, also thought he was communicating with a 12-year-old girl, Baker said. He was actually speaking with undercover detectives.
According to the sheriff’s office, Andrade offered to pay for her taxi if she would come to Dalton. He was arrested with the help of Whitfield County deputies, who arrived outside his home in a vehicle disguised as a taxi and took him into custody, Baker said.
Andrade is charged with electronically furnishing obscene material to a minor, sexual exploitation of a child and violating the computer pornography and child exploitation act.
Andrade remains behind bars at the Whitfield County Jail and will be transported to Cherokee in a few days, authorities said.
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