4th defendant pleads guilty in Fulton sex trafficking case

Jody Netter, 37, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to seven felony counts, including rape and first-degree cruelty to children, state officials announced.

Credit: File photo

Credit: File photo

Jody Netter, 37, of Atlanta, pleaded guilty to seven felony counts, including rape and first-degree cruelty to children, state officials announced.

The fourth and final defendant in a 2021 sex trafficking case involving a 14-year-old victim in Fulton County has pleaded guilty, state officials announced Wednesday.

Jody Netter, 37, of Atlanta, pleaded to seven felony counts, including rape and first-degree cruelty to children, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in a news release. Netter was immediately sentenced to 25 years in prison followed by 15 years on strict probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

By pleading guilty, Netter follows the same path as his co-defendants: Raphel Olivia Sewer, 44, Courdale Thayer, 23, and Jahaundria Seabron, 27. All received lengthy prison sentences in the Fulton case, while Seabron and Thayer were also convicted in a separate case out of DeKalb County.

Netter, the only defendant convicted of rape, was given the longest prison sentence.

The case began with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that led investigators to find and rescue the 14-year-old girl being trafficked and sold for sex, Carr said. The girl had been missing from her College Park home for about seven weeks when she was found.

Months later, Netter and his co-defendants were arrested. The investigation into this case led Carr’s Human Trafficking Unit to open the second case against Seabron and Thayer in DeKalb, which already resulted in convictions.

Netter, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was already in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on multiple felony counts when he was charged in the human trafficking case. He has remained in jail since his arrest in August 2021.