Mayor To Serve 2 Years in Prison
Taylorsville's Cary Rhodes pleaded guilty to charges resulting from an online sting by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Northwest Georgia Safe Child Task Force.
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The Bartow mayor who pleaded guilty to the electronic exploitation of a child was sentenced to two years in prison followed by 10 years of probation, The Daily Tribune News reports.
Taylorsville Mayor Cary Wayne Rhodes, 57, was arrested in October in an online sting by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Northwest Georgia Safe Child Task Force. Authorities said Rhodes—a self-employed engineer and secretary and chief financial officer of Taylorsville Baptist Church—was arrested in Chatsworth, where he traveled to meet and have sex with a child he had already met online.
He pleaded guilty last month to one count of computer and electronic child exploitation after avoiding two attempted child molestation charges he had faced, according to the Tribune and Dalton's The Daily Citizen. Rhodes thought he would be meeting a 14-year-old girl, but was jailed with a $50,000 bond.
Rhodes made bond and was released after nearly a week in jail.
Two counts of attempted child molestation against Rhodes were dismissed, his attorney Don Evans told The Daily Tribune News in May.
"The Rhodes family has been through a lot, and (Cary) is trying to move on with his life," Evans said. "He is still the mayor and has had a lot of community support."
Should Rhodes remain the mayor of Taylorsville or step down? Tell us in the comments.
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Vaughan & Evans
117 N Erwin St, Cartersville, GA -
The Daily Tribune News
251 S Tennessee St, Cartersville, GA
John
11:50 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Surely he was automatically removed form office when he plead guilty in May? He was then a convicted felon, unable to vote therefor unable to hold an elected office.!
Lynda Everett`
12:08 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
How do you become Mayor of Taylorsville? It is a given Rhodes is out but how does someone else take over? I can't find any info on the web about this "OPEN" office.
a concearned parent
3:55 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
By all means he should be kicked out of the state of Ga!! Of course he shouldn't be a mayor or an active employee.in the church...I would like to know how come he gets a slap on the wrist , allowed to be on the streets where he will do this again and allowed to keep his position as mayor? How many children has he actually molested? I am sure there is some out there...smh
Well maybe I should run for mayor, it will beat the Trash that's there now...just saying!!!!
Gatewood2002
11:04 am on Friday, June 29, 2012
2 years is not sufficient...maybe justice will take place behind bars....with pooky, Ray-Ray, or Bubba.
McClure
11:05 am on Friday, June 29, 2012
this is ridiculous he has a community that supports him yeah right we are not behind him for support we are behind him and in-front of him watching his ass and I want to trow his ass out of taylorsville.
John Mclaughlin
5:44 pm on Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The should not only throw him out of office, but of his church as well. Has he been using church funds to pay for his little meetings?
Lisa
10:34 pm on Friday, October 19, 2012
Shoul it even be a question that he remain in office or not? He plead guilty...that says plenty. There is not punishment great enough for a child molester...the crime is commited in the present...but the damage lasts the lifetime of the child!!!!!!!!!
Jonathan
2:13 am on Monday, March 4, 2013
I have known this man my whole life. I grew up in Taylorsville Baptist Church. I am honestly torn by how I should think of this man. I can not understand Cary's urges but I can not ignore the man I have known for so long. A devoted husband and father, a man of God. All I can say is that I pray for his wife and children. I pray that his beautiful family can some how live a normal life while he lives in jail. And I pray that people can remember what God has told us, "He who is without sin, cast the first stone." Maybe verses like that are in the Bible not for when they are easy to obey, but when we find the lessons of the Bible impossible to obey. I hope that the people that still live in my home town can reach out to the the Rhodes family, and not give up on Cary. I know God hasn't.