(Updated with George Vickery being denied bond.)
A Savannah man was arrested Thursday on charges he solicited to have sex with a woman and her 5-year-old daughter.
George Mathew Vickery, 30, was charged with criminal attempt to commit child molestation and use of a computer for child pornography or exploitation.
Vickery had his first court appearance Friday morning and was denied bond by Chief Magistrate Scott Hinson. He remains in the Effingham County Jail.
According to Effingham County Sheriff’s Office investigators, Vickery sent the woman a friend request on Facebook. Because she and Vickery had mutual friends, the woman accepted his request.
However, investigators say, Vickery soon began making sexually-explicit comments about the woman’s 5-year-old daughter. He provided details on sexual acts he wanted to perform on the child.
“He got pretty graphic pretty quickly about exactly what he wanted,” said ECSO spokesman Detective David Ehsanipoor. “There is no doubt his intentions were to engage in sexual activity with a 5-year-old child.”
The woman contacted the ECSO, which investigated Vickery for about two weeks, Ehsanipoor said. He credited the woman for making the arrest possible by “being aware something wasn’t right” and contacting authorities.
“She came to us with that gut feeling, and we were able to stay on top of what (Vickery) was doing,” Ehsanipoor said. “Had this not occurred, there’s no telling what he might have done down the road.”
Vickery drove to Jaycee Veterans Memorial Park on Highway 21 in Rincon on Thursday afternoon to meet, he thought, the woman and her daughter. Instead, sheriff’s investigators were waiting and arrested him.
By driving to the park, Vickery clearly indicated his intentions, according to investigators.
“He made the overt act of going to the playground in front of the Rincon library to meet who he thought was a mother and her 5-year-old daughter with the intent to engage in sexual activities,” Ehsanipoor said.
Vickery also was charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He had a loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun in his car, Ehsanipoor said.
