Georgia Man Sentenced to Multiple Life Terms After Conviction on 31 Child Sex Crime Charges

A Putnam County jury convicted a Georgia man Thursday on 31 charges involving the repeated sexual abuse of a 7-year-old child and the possession of thousands of child sexual abuse images and videos.

According to prosecutors, Corey Hickey was found guilty May 21 on charges including three counts of rape of a child under 10 years old, four counts of aggravated child molestation, three counts of child molestation, and 21 counts of sexual exploitation of children.

Investigators said Hickey targeted the 7-year-old daughter of his roommate and sexually assaulted her over a six-month period. Authorities said he also recorded acts of abuse on his cellphone.

The investigation began after Hickey allegedly uploaded two images involving the victim to OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform. Prosecutors said the images were flagged and later forwarded to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for investigation.

A cyber tip was then sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit. Authorities said Special Agent Ethan Brown verified the information in the tip and confirmed the images were created in Putnam County within three days.

Hickey was arrested and investigators seized his cellphone. A forensic examination later uncovered numerous videos documenting the abuse of the victim, according to prosecutors.

Investigators said more than 4,800 images and videos of child sexual abuse material were found on Hickey’s phone, along with more than 400 additional images stored in his Google Drive account.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Alley Mauldin led the prosecution with assistance from Assistant District Attorney Carter Harwell.

After a four-day trial, jurors deliberated for approximately 45 minutes before returning guilty verdicts on all counts.

Chief Judge Alison T. Burleson sentenced Hickey to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, three additional consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole, followed by 220 years in prison.

Officials said the sentence is believed to be the longest prison sentence imposed in the judicial circuit.

The district attorney’s office credited the GBI Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, the Putnam County Sheriff’s OfficeCrescent House Child Advocacy Center