A former Austell police sergeant who was arrested on child molestation charges in 2021 has pleaded guilty, officials said.
Matthew Darren Atkins, 58, was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by eight years of supervised release, Cobb County District Attorney Flynn D. Broady announced Wednesday. Atkins was taken into police custody following his plea and was booked into the Cobb jail Monday, online records show.
Atkins, who had been in law enforcement for 30 years, was first arrested on March 10, 2021, after the 7-year-old victim told her grandmother he had molested her, Broady said. The grandmother immediately reported the case, and Cobb police conducted a forensic interview with the girl. Atkins was arrested later that day.
“Thanks to this young lady’s bravery in cooperating with local law enforcement, Mr. Atkins will no longer be a threat to the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Raynor, who prosecuted the case.
After Atkins’ arrest, a second victim came forward to report him in Carroll County, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. According to that arrest warrant, he was accused of inappropriately touching the victim between her legs in 2015 when she was 8 years old. That case is pending.
Before going to work for the Austell Police Department, Atkins served more than 10 years each with Powder Springs police and Douglasville police. He resigned from his post in Douglasville after it was discovered he’d used a work computer to purchase illegal steroids, according to records kept by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
After the steroid scandal, Atkins was placed on probation for 36 months, during which he was required to submit to random drug screenings, POST records show.
“Although this defendant once took an oath to protect and serve as a police officer, he betrayed that oath and the trust of his family, friends, colleagues and this community to prey on and sexually abuse this child,” Raynor said.
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