North Georgia business owner faces sex trafficking, child molestation charges

Christopher Charles Baggett

Christopher Charles Baggett

A North Georgia business owner was arrested Monday after being accused of driving to Floyd County to meet someone he thought was 14 years old to pay for prostitution.

Christopher Charles Baggett, 43, faces counts of human sex trafficking, aggravated child molestation and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to Floyd County jail records.

About 10:30 a.m., he was pulled over in the parking lot of the Olive Garden off Turner McCall Boulevard, according to a police incident report obtained by AJC.com. Three days earlier, Baggett is accused of messaging an undercover detective, who he allegedly thought was a 14-year-old girl.

Baggett offered to pay the detective, who he thought was a child, for them to meet so he could sexually abuse her in exchange for payment, the report said. Baggett was pulled over on his way to the meeting spot, police said.

When questioned by officers, he said, “I don’t know why I’m being pulled over. I was there to meet someone that I had been talking to that I shouldn’t have been. I didn’t have a good feeling about it and I left,” according to the report.

Baggett was carrying $245 in cash, a pocket knife and a gun when pulled over, the report said. He was arrested and booked into the Floyd County jail, where he remains without bond.

The Georgia Secretary of State's website says Baggett is the owner of Crystal Caverns Springwater LLC. The company, which is based at 112 North River Street in Calhoun, distributes bottled water to Cartersville, Dalton, Rome and Tennessee, according to its website.

In other news: