A Guyton man was booked into the Effingham County jail on Thursday on child molestation charges.
The arrest of Brandon Fanning, 19, stemmed from an investigation by the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes against Children task force and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“The investigation revealed that Fanning had been molesting an underage boy and possessed videos of the sexual acts between he and the victim which he was sharing,” sheriff’s spokesman David Ehsanipoor said.
He also was engaged in sexual acts with a dog, Ehsanipoor said.
Fanning was charged with aggravated child molestation, child molestation and sexual exploitation of a child.
Investigators contacted Fanning at a residence in the 100 block of Lakeshore Road in Guyton Thursday morning.
This case remains under investigation by the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office is a member of the Georgia Internet Crimes against Children Task Force.
The ICAC task force was created by the Department of Justice to help state and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative response to offenders who use the Internet, online communications systems or other computer technology to sexually exploit children.
The program is composed of 61 regional task force agencies across the nation and is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Georgia’s ICAC Regional task force is supervised by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“Protecting our children is one of the highest priorities at the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office, and we will continue to pursue these cases in the future with ICAC,” said Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie.
Police seek help identifying robbery suspect
Savannah-Chatham police detectives are asking the public’s help identifying a man who robbed a southside Savannah convenience store Saturday morning.
A stocky black male wearing a light T-shirt and dark baseball cap walked into the Circle K in the 8900 block of White Bluff Road about 2:30 a.m. The man wore socks over his hands and face and appeared to have a weapon in his hand under the garment, said police spokesman Julian Miller.
After entering the store, the man ordered the clerk to put the cash drawer on the counter. Miller said he then grabbed the money and walked out.
Anyone with information on the identity and/or location of the suspect is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 912-234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.
Teen charged with vehicular homicide in fatal May wreck
An 18-year-old Savannah man was booked into the Chatham County jail Wednesday on vehicular homicide charges about three months after he was involved in fatal wreck on U.S. 80 near Fort Pulaski.
Savannah-Chatham police charged Alexander Gunn with homicide by vehicle in the second degree and failure to maintain lane in the May 13 crash that killed 25-year-old Ben McDaniel of Dublin and injured two other women in McDaniel’s car. Gunn’s eastbound pickup crossed the center line of U.S. 80 about 1.5 miles west of Fort Pulaski and sideswiped another vehicle that then slammed into the car McDaniel was a passenger in, police spokesman Julian Miller said at the time of the crash.
The Major Accident Investigation Team investigated the wreck that closed U.S. 80 to traffic for several hours that day.
Compiled by DeAnn Komanecky and Corey Dickstein