A 69-year-old man is facing charges after authorities said he tried to meet with two girls he thought were 14 years old.
Wayne Wilderom was arrested Friday near Woodstock — the third arrest in a span of seven days in connection with sex crimes against minors in Cherokee County, according to the sheriff’s office.
Wilderom sent nude images of himself, not knowing the recipients were undercover investigators posing as teens, sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Jay Baker said Monday in a news release.
He traveled from his home in Chatsworth to an undisclosed park in the southern part of Cherokee to meet the girls and pick them up for sex, according to authorities. Investigators met him in the park, and he was taken into custody.
Wilderom was arrested and booked into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center, where he remains without bond, Baker said. He is charged with two counts of attempted child molestation, two counts of pandering to a person under the age of 18, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of computer or electronic pornography and two counts of obscene internet contact with a child.
“Some of these investigations take weeks or even months,” Baker said. “This particular investigation was less than 24 hours.”
Since the start of the month, at least four other people have been arrested in connection with sex crimes against minors in Cherokee.
Two other men were taken into custody within a day of each other after allegedly trying to meet girls who were 14 years old and younger for sex, AJC.com previously reported.
Officials said Andy Estremera, 22, of Gainesville, requested and sent “lewd images” online and asked the undercover detective he thought was a teen girl to take a taxi and meet him in Hall County. He was arrested Nov. 4.
Jerome Walker, 25, of Canton, was arrested Nov. 5 when he showed up to a meetup location in Woodstock, AJC.com previously reported. He allegedly offered money to a person he thought was a young girl to spend the weekend with him.
Both men were charged under Georgia’s Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act.
RELATED: 2 accused of crimes against children in Cherokee County internet sting
Michael Hulsey, 46, of Macon, was arrested Nov. 16 after he tried to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex, officials previously said. Investigators said they had been communicating with Hulsey since mid-September, though he believed he was talking to a teen girl. Hulsey was taken into custody after making arrangements for the teen to come to his home.
ALSO: Man arrested after allegedly trying to arrange sex with 13-year-old from Cherokee Co.
Two days later, James Wesley Smith was arrested in Clarke County after an investigation that originated in Cherokee County, officials said. Smith, 21, was out on bond after allegedly talking to an undercover investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl online. He was arrested Sept. 29 in connection with that investigation and released Oct. 17 with conditions.
“Despite the fact that one of his conditions of bond was ‘shall have no internet access,’ he started communicating within three weeks of his release with a Cherokee Sheriff’s Investigator who he believed was the same girl he had been communicating with in September,” Baker said.
MORE: Man accused of chatting online with investigator posing as 13-year-old girl — twice
Smith was taken into custody Nov. 18 on new charges of obscene internet contact with a child after the latest investigation.
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