A Tunnel Hill man who was arrested in October 2008 by the Innocent Images Task Force on computer exploitation of children charges pleaded guilty in Whitfield County Superior Court on Wednesday and was sentenced to three years in prison, a court officer said.
David Lamar Hamill, 61, of 180 Crabtree Drive, was originally charged with sexual exploitation of children and criminal attempt at child molestation, both related to his computer use. He pleaded guilty to computer electronic child exploitation before Judge David Blevins and was sentenced to three years in prison followed by 12 years on probation with standard sex offender conditions.
Hamill will have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison, said District Attorney Bert Poston.
When Poston was asked why it had taken so long for the case to be heard, he replied that a former assistant district attorney who has retired was working the case and believed he needed some documents to aid in prosecution and was having trouble getting those documents.
“When he left and (Assistant District Attorney) Dixon Lackey took over the case, he reviewed it and decided that he didn’t need those documents and proceeded, and now (Hamill has) pled guilty,” Poston said.
Hamill was represented by Dalton attorney Marcus Morris, who did not immediately return a phone call Thursday afternoon.
The Innocent Images Task Force is comprised of officers from the Dalton Police Department, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Rossville Police Department and the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department. The task force — which has also been known as the Northwest Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force — was formed early in 2008 to investigate sexual crimes against children.
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