Published: January 20, 2010 06:36 pm      

Feds may come for child porn suspect

A suspect from Murray County arrested during a statewide operation against child pornography last week has drawn interest from the U.S. attorney’s office, officials said.

Albert Vernon Norton, 47, of 1178 Highway 225 S., Lot 56, in Spring Place, was charged by the Murray County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 12 with four counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of manufacture of marijuana. Norton was supposed to appear in Superior Court on Wednesday for a bond hearing but assistant district attorney Scott Minter said he was instead going to be “taken by the feds.”

“We have been contacted by the U.S. attorney’s office (for the Northern District of Georgia) and were asked if we minded if they took (Norton) federally,” said District Attorney Kermit McManus. “We said that’s fine, but to do that they’ll have to take a federal warrant and then take him into federal custody. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, but that does mean they’re taking several of these (cases) and will do a good job of prosecution.”

More than 50 arrests were made as part of Operation Restore Hope, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation official said last week.

McManus explained that the federal system is “very different” from state prosecution in one aspect.

“When federal authorities arrest somebody, they have to try him within 100 days,” he said. “That means that when they take him into custody, they’re ready to go to trial. (Norton’s) under a state warrant right now, and their time doesn’t start until they come to get him.”

McManus said he could give no timetable on when Norton might be taken into federal custody.

A spokeswoman with the U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta said on Wednesday a formal complaint against Norton would be filed today in the district court docket in Rome.

Vincent McCarty, 43, of 3575 Lower Dug Gap Road in Carbondale, was arrested and charged with possession of child porn by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 12 as part of Operation Restore Hope. McManus said on Wednesday no one in his office had been contacted by federal attorneys about McCarty.

Agents from the GBI and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force are participating in Operation Restore Hope.