Jerry Joseph Southern, a Northwest Georgia convicted sex offender, was sentenced this week to ten years of imprisonment for possessing thousands of digital images and videos depicting the rape and sexual abuse of children, including prepubescent minors under the age of 12.

According to U.S. Attorney Buchanan, the charge and other information presented in court: in July 2023, after receiving information that someone was using a cellular telephone to share videos and images of child sexual abuse, federal agents and local law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Southern’s Cartersville home. During the search, agents found a cellular phone that Southern had hidden in an air vent. A search of the device revealed that Southern received, collected, and distributed a vast quantity of child sex abuse materials.

In 2013, Southern had been convicted of multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a child in state court after he pleaded guilty to the offenses. He was placed on probation and required to register as a sex offender after serving a prison term. But he repeatedly violated the terms of his probation, resulting in additional terms of incarceration in 2014, 2019, and 2020.

Southern has been sentenced to ten years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $28,500.00. Southern pleaded guilty to possession of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct on December 19, 2023.