A former youth pastor at a Georgia church has been charged with trying to sell a teenage girl on the dark web, Atlanta News First reported.
Kelly Garrett Ivey was charged with: Cruelty to Children in the First Degree; Cruelty to Children in the Second Degree; Trafficking of Persons for Sexual Servitude; Three counts of Criminal Attempt to Commit a Felony, including kidnapping.
According to investigators, Ivey “attempted to sell information about a 16-year-old female, home address as well as places she regularly attends on the dark web in order for her to be abducted, assaulted or otherwise harmed.”
From Atlanta News First:
The website is called “Slave Bay,” the indictment said, and it “featured images of unclothed women on the same page as the said ad, and in the said ad the accused did offer to sell information as to the location of [the victim], a person the accused listed as a 17-year-old virgin female, and the accused claimed to have the home address and places [the victim] attended, and did post several images of her on the advertisement.”
Atlanta News First was told the victim and Ivey may have known of each other through a church they both attended at one point. This information was confirmed by the pastor.
As The Roys Report points out, a mother questioned in a local Facebook group why the church hadn’t notified her.
“Why wasn’t an announcement made?” she wrote. “If it is to protect themselves, why not say, ‘Allegedly this happened, but to ensure the safety of our members and youth, please talk to your children about this incident, and if you learn anything you are concerned with, please notify the police as this is an ongoing investigation.’”
Another woman wrote, “The loopholes in this story will cause more to leave, myself and my family included.”
