A former teacher at Griffin High School and Washington County High School was sentenced Thursday to federal prison after being found guilty of uploading sexually explicit content online of students he communicated with using fake social media accounts, officials said.
Michael Allen Dendy, 33, of Milledgeville, will serve 33 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in late July to charges of production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia said.
“We are committed to holding people like Michael Allen Dendy accountable to the fullest extent of the law for monstrously preying on adolescents, in this case tricking minors to send him explicit images and uploading them online for other predators to view,” Peter Leary, attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said in a statement.
Officials said Dendy admitted to obtaining nude images of minors, particularly underage students at Washington County High, by communicating with the victims using fake Instagram accounts. He would “catfish” victims by posing as a young boy or girl on social media to lure them in, and said he never met with any students in person, the Department of Justice said.
The images Dendy obtained were then posted on Discord in a channel without the knowledge or approval of the victims, authorities confirmed.
Deputies with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office received multiple complaints in December 2022 about child porn being posted on the social platform. Several local high school students also notified law enforcement that their images had been uploaded. That’s when the investigation into Dendy began.
Officials said the Discord channel and username linked to the uploaded images were tracked to Dendy.
A search warrant executed at his home uncovered numerous electronic devices containing child porn and online conversations with multiple identified victims, law enforcement said. One was a 16-year-old whom Dendy persuaded to engage in sexually explicit conduct, film the conduct and share it through social media in January 2023, officials stated.
He worked as a teacher at Washington County High in Sandersville from August 2020 until his arrest Jan. 20, 2023. He had previously worked at Starkville High School in Mississippi from 2014 to 2016, St. Charles High School in Maryland from 2017 to 2018, and Griffin High School from 2018 to 2020.
Dendy admitted that he began his “catfishing scheme” in 2016 when he lived in Mississippi and continued after moving to Maryland and Georgia, the DOJ said. He said he was unable to stop despite knowing that what he was doing was wrong, according to authorities.
“Educators are entrusted with the responsibility to protect and guide our youth, and the actions of this former teacher represent a severe betrayal of that trust. By creating false identities to deceive minors and exploit them in such a harmful way, Dendy caused profound damage to those he was meant to safeguard,” Homeland Security Investigations Acting Special Agent Steven Schrank said in a statement.
There is no parole in the federal system. When Dendy is released from prison, he will have to register as a child sex offender.
Parents and guardians of victims who may have encountered Dendy and have concerns related to the investigation can contact the HSI tip line at 866-347-2423.
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