Acworth man arrested, accused of trying to meet minor for sex
Officials said a man walked from Acworth to a location in Cherokee County to try to meet an underage girl for sex Thursday.
When he arrived, however, Mackenzie Merriman was met instead by Cherokee deputies, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Capt. Jay Baker.
Law enforcement had been investigating 34-year-old Merriman for about three months, Baker said. Investigators said Merriman believed he was talking to a girl under the age of 15. He was actually chatting with an undercover detective.
Cherokee officials did not disclose where Merriman went to meet the girl, but said he was arrested by detectives on site.
Merriman is charged with two counts of obscene internet contact with a child and one count of computer pornography and child exploitation.
He was booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center, where he remains without bond.
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About the Author
Asia Simone Burns is a watchdog reporter for the AJC. Burns was formerly an intern in AJC’s newsroom and now writes about crime. She is a graduate of Samford University and has previously reported for NPR and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR member station.
