Lt. Darin Meadows and Sgt. Heath Collins – Houston County Sheriff’s Juvenile Investigation Division

Houston County Sheriff’s Juvenile Investigations Lieutenant Darin Meadows and Sergeant Heath Collins were recently presented with an award from the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC).

The Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force is housed within the Child Exploitation And Computer Crimes Unit (CEACCU) at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). There are numerous local, state, and federal law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies that are part of the Georgia ICAC Task Force, such as the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.

Earlier this month at the annual meeting of Georgia ICAC, Meadows and Collins were presented with the award for digital items forensically processed. Captain Randall Banks, head of the Houston County Sheriff’s Juvenile Investigations Division, said the Georgia ICAC has 230 affiliates.

“I appreciate everything Lt. Meadows and Sgt. Collins do,” Banks said. “They both work really hard and are sometimes here in their office on the weekends. They have a lot of training and experience and do a great job for our division. I also am very appreciative of the support we have had from Sheriff Talton, because we wouldn’t be able to have the success if it wasn’t for him and his support.”

Meadows has been with the Houston County Sheriff’s Office now for 29 years and Collins, 10 years.

“It is hard and tedious work, but it is worth it when we get these criminals off the streets and into prison,” Meadows said. “We not only conduct cases through our office and the Georgia ICAC, but we also help with other agencies, because not everyone has the ability to do digital forensics. Like Captain said, we are very grateful for Sheriff Talton’s support because digital forensics is very expensive.”

“An example of our work most recently was the suspect who was sentenced to 90 years in prison for being found guilty of two counts of aggravated child molestation, four counts of child molestation, and two counts of statutory rape,” Collins said. “We recovered communications between the victim and suspect in that case. And this year we have processed a total of 249 different digital devices.”

More about Georgia ICAC, it is one group of 61 regional task forces spread throughout the United States and funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Georgia ICAC Task Force began operations in April 2003 and has been in continuous operation since that time.

In 2017, the ICAC Task Force made 350 arrests. There have been over 2,100 arrests in Georgia by the ICAC Task Force since its inception.