MARYVILLE — A Georgia man is being held in the Blount County Detention Facility on charges that he committed sexual crimes involving a minor.

Valter Elroy Hartbarger, 58, of Summerville, Georgia, is being held in lieu of bonds totaling $200,000 pending a Friday morning hearing in Blount County General Sessions Court, according to Blount County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Marian O’Briant.

“For the past two weeks, investigators with the Blount County Sheriff’s Office HEAT Unit have been conducting an on-line investigation on Hartbarger,” O’Briant said today. “The investigation culminated this morning when investigators with the HEAT Unit, the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office (Georgia), and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at Hartbarger’s residence and took him into custody at his home in Summerville this morning.”

He waived extradition today and was transported to Blount County.

When asked about the alleged victim or victims in the case, O’Briant said: “Anything that an adult requests a child to do online is the same thing as doing it in person, and they can be charged with that.”

Harbarger was originally booked into the Chattooga County jail on a hold for Blount County Authorities.

(Knoxnews.com)