At least eight female students were victimized by a vendor allowed access to Gilmer County schools even after students complained that he was taking photos and videos of them in school without their consent.
A lawsuit names Pepsi Beverage Co. and its distributor for failing to protect students from Ronald Richardson, who remains in jail on multiple counts of sexual exploitation.
Richardson, who is also named in the civil suit, is accused of taking the photos and video without the students’ consent and using artificial intelligence to turn their images into child pornography that he distributed across the internet. The girls range from 12 to 17 years old.
Parents of eight of the victims filed a lawsuit Friday against Richardson, Pepsi Beverage Co. and Pepsi-Cola Sales and Distribution, on behalf of their minor children.
Richardson’s actions “caused fear, mental suffering, shame and humiliation and sustained damages” to the girls, who are referred to as Jaime Does 1-8 because they are minors and victims of sex crimes.
“In addition to the minor Plaintiffs herein, there are many similarly situated minor females who have been damaged by the named Defendants’ tortious acts,” the lawsuit said.
“An investigation of Richardson’s predatory behavior was conducted, which discovered that Defendant Richardson had thousands of photographs of minor females from both the Middle and High School on his cell phone and iPad, including photographs of Plaintiffs Jaime Does 1-8, many of which were sexually explicit child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”),” the lawsuit said.
After Richardson’s arrest, the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office asked the plaintiffs’ parents to come into police offices to view the sexually explicit images on Richardson’s cellphone and iPad to determine if their children’s images were included.
While working as a vendor, Richardson was given a badge and access card to the county’s middle and high schools so he could replenish the vending machines with Pepsi products.
In September, Richardson was loading drinks into a vending machine at Gilmer High School when students walking past, including one of the plaintiffs, saw him taking photos of them. The incident was reported to a coach and the school’s vice principal. High school officials demanded that Pepsi investigate the incident and remove Richardson from serving the school.
The Pepsi defendants allegedly conducted an investigation but then reinstated Richardson to the same route including the school, because the company was “having difficulty finding other drivers in the area,” according to the lawsuit.
Richardson, 48, was identified as a resident of Ellijay.
Pepsi could not be reached for comment. On Feb. 6, the company, in a statement, said Richardson “is no longer employed by PepsiCo and we are fully committed to cooperating with local authorities in their investigation.”
Richardson was arrested Jan. 17 on multiple counts of sexual exploitation. His bond hearing was denied and the case was referred to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office. On Feb. 5, DeKalb announced it would take over the prosecution of the case.
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