The Nashville man accused of involving a local 15-year-old juvenile in a prostitution ring four years ago was sentenced last week in DeKalb County Criminal Court.
Charles Earl Denton, 38, plead guilty last week to facilitation to trafficking for a commercial sex act, with a 15 year prison sentence as a range II offender. He must serve 35 percent of the term, but will receive credit for time served, four years, one month, and 25 days, or 1,516 days served from September 1, 2017, to October 26, 2021. He is also ordered to have no contact with the victim, with his name listed on the state sex offender registry.
On August 4, 2017 the DeKalb Sheriff’s Department received a complaint about a missing 15-year-old female in Liberty. The father of the 15-year-old said his daughter had told him on August 2, 2017, she was going to a friend’s house to spend the night. The next day, she texted her father and said she wanted to spend that night with another friend.
On August 4, the father could not get back in touch with her and contacted the sheriff’s department and filed a missing juvenile report. Officers tried to enter her into the Amber Alert System, but were advised she did not meet the standards of an Amber Alert because she was not abducted and left on her own free will.
While trying to locate the juvenile, the department was able to gain access into one of her social media networks. It was discovered the juvenile was having conversations, and was uploading explicit pictures of herself, to a man named Charles Denton, 34, from Nashville. It was then found there were uploads of the juvenile’s pictures, along with another young girl’s picture, on a website which is known to be associated with illegal activities.
Detectives then found a person believed to be associated with the ad at a motel off of Wallace Road in Nashville. They called an agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation who specializes in commercial sex crimes, who went to the motel and set up surveillance. He then called for two DeKalb detectives to come to Nashville and setup an undercover sting on the motel room. After the detectives arrived, a TBI agent set up an appointment to purchase sex there in a motel room through the website.
A decision was made to take down whoever was in the motel room. An undercover TBI Agent went to the room as planned to purchase sex. After he was in the room, other officers entered the room and detained everyone.
Officers found the missing Liberty juvenile as well as another 17-year-old juvenile who had been reported missing from Nashville. An adult female was also in the room with the juveniles.
Through an investigation, it was found that Charles Denton was the one who planned to meet the missing juvenile on August 2. Denton drove to Liberty, picked the juvenile up and transported her to Nashville for the purpose of commercial sex.
On August 25, 2017, a special called meeting of the DeKalb County Grand Jury convened and a sealed indictment was obtained on Charles Denton for trafficking for a commercial sex act. He was later picked up in Davidson County, on August 31, and transported to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.
Local officers working the case were Deputy Michael Trusty, Detectives Jimmy Martin, Robert Patrick, and Stephen Barrett and Sheriff Patrick Ray.
Sheriff Ray said parents should be aware of what their children are doing on the internet. He urged parents to monitor what their children are doing on social media sites such as Facebook, Snap Chat, Twitter, Kik (pronounced kick), Instagram, and Text Now.
Pedophiles try to communicate with minors as a friend and set up meetings with children promising them freedom, money, lavish lifestyles, and sex. If you find someone trying to setup a meeting with a child or any suspicious comments, please report them to the sheriff’s department.
In other news, 43-year-old Michael Lloyd Ballinger pled guilty to two counts of auto burglary, receiving a two-year sentence to run concurrently. The sentence will also run concurrently with a case against him in Rutherford County. He was also given jail credit from September 18, 2020 to present.
Officials say that on August 22, 2020 Ballinger entered a 2015 Chevy Equinox at the Long Branch Recreation area and took items belonging to two separate people which included two bags of assorted bag of clothing, a rose-gold purse, an IPhone, 14kt diamond engagement ring, a beach bag full of clothing, a cross-body purse with miscellaneous credit cards. Each person’s belongings were valued over $1,000. Ballinger damaged front and rear passenger windows of the Equinox in order to gain entry. The total damage to the vehicle was valued over $2,000.67
Also pleading guilty last week was 43-year-old Jerry Goff for driving under the influence. He was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days, all suspended to supervised probation. Goff is to serve 48 hours, but that is waived if he completes DUI center treatment. He was fined $365, and will lose his license for a year.
Katie Mooneyham McCoy, 25, pled guilty to sale of a schedule II drug over 0.5 grams and theft over $1,000. She was sentenced to eight years in the drug case, and one year for the theft to run concurrently. The term will be suspended upon payment of a $2,000 fine. She was given 100 days of credit for time served from July 19, 2021, to October 26, 2021.
