ATLANTA, Ga. — A Georgia man was sentenced to life in prison to serve 50 years, after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to a number of child sex crimes.
ATLANTA, Ga. — A Georgia man was sentenced to life in prison to serve 50 years, after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to a number of child sex crimes.
Kelly Garrett Ivey, 43, was sentenced for crimes in both Monroe and Jasper counties.
According to the Ocmulgee District Attorney’s Office, Ivey pleaded guilty to trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, first-degree cruelty to children and criminal attempt to commit rape, among other charges.
“Ivey then used the child’s social media posts and photos to solicit child molesters,” the district attorney said. “An examination of Ivey’s electronic devices demonstrated his evil plan to offer the child for sex to perverts, sexual deviants, and criminals.”
This all came to light in 2023, when Ivey was accused of attempting to sell a teenage girl on the dark web on a site called “Slave Bay.”
According to the indictment, Ivey posted a picture of the then 16-year-old girl on the site saying he would, for a price, share where the girl went to school, the car she drove and other personal details for the purposes of having her kidnapped and sexually assaulted.
That indictment said there were at least two other alleged victims.
The FBI intervened and put a stop to it.
The mother of the victim said they did not know Ivey personally but recognized him because he was a volunteer at the church they attended at one point.
They were shocked when investigators knocked on their door and told them what happened.
“I’m always worried about other places, when you go on vacation, when you go here and go there, but it happened here, right around us,” she said in an exclusive interview in 2023.
“If I can protect one person to tell the story, I don’t want anybody, anybody, to go through what we are going through right now,” she said.
The district attorney said, “parents, teachers, and anyone else that works with children, please be aware that evil walks among us every day. Know the people that hang around your children. Report suspicious activity to law enforcement immediately. That hunch you have may save a child.”
If you, or someone you know, could be in danger, you can call the Georgia Human Trafficking hotline at 866-363-4842.
