A 55-year-old Cartersville man was arrested on a child pornography charge Thursday morning after investigators received “numerous reports” about his online activity, authorities said.

Armed with a warrant, members of the GBI, the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations searched the home of Preston Nichols before charging him with possession and distribution of child pornography, the GBI said in a news release.

The investigation began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted authorities to his online activity involving the sexual exploitation of children, the GBI said.

No other details about the case have been released.

Nichols remains held at the Bartow County Jail without bond, online records show.

Anyone with information about the case or other instances of child exploitation is asked to contact the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit at 404-270-8870.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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