Carroll County man found guilty after molesting young girl for years

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — On Friday, a Carroll County jury found a man guilty of molestation and other charges from an investigation that began in 2020.

According to the Coweta County Judicial Circuit, evidence revealed that Mark Anthony Starnes, 46, sexually abused a young girl until she was 12 years old.

Evidence showed that Starnes abused the victim during this period due to his relationship with the victim’s mother, which gave Starnes regular access to the victim.

Starnes regularly sexually assaulted the victim when he babysat and stayed the night in the same residence as the victim.

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Evidence also revealed that the last time Starnes raped and abused the victim in Carroll County was in 2019 when he came up from his new home in Florida to take her and her mother down to the beach.

The investigation into Starnes began in April 2020, when the victim told a relative about the abuse, who then told the victim’s mother.

The victim’s mother contacted the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, and investigator Ametrice Jackson began her investigation.

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Jackson spoke with the victim, who was 13 years old at the time.

She was examined at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where evidence revealed consistent sexual abuse of the victim.

After a two-week long trial, he was found guilty of rape, two counts of aggravated child molestation, and two counts of child molestation.

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