Agents from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and Marengo County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Marengo County native and Choctaw County resident Wednesday on charges of child pornography and sexual abuse.

The ABI reported Thursday that 48-year-old Jack Aubrey Dixon of Gilbertown had been charged with possession of child pornography and production of child pornography, both felonies, plus a misdemeanor count of second-degree sexual abuse.

Marengo County Sheriff Jesse Langley said he and Chief Deputy Tommy Reese assisted the ABI in raiding the Marengo County home of Dixon’s late father, in which the suspect had been living during the week. Choctaw County Sheriff Donald Lolley said Dixon was married to a Gilbertown woman with whom he spent the weekends, though he usually spent weekdays at his family home in south Marengo County.

The ABI got involved in the case after Lolley’s department received a report that Dixon allegedly abused a 12-year-old girl and took nude photographs of her. With the help of local law enforcement, ABI agents executed search warrant s on both residences and seized computers, images, a digital camera and a video camera.

Langley said no victims from Marengo County had come forward.

Dixon’s arrest was the second time in two weeks that a Marengo County man had been arrested for computer-related sex crimes.

Michael Willingham, 30, of Demopolis was arrested last week as part of a joint investigation by the 17th Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office and the Demopolis Police Department for Internet related sex crimes.

During the investigation, Willingham solicited what he thought was a 14 year old girl over the Internet. Willingham transferred nude photos of him and arranged to meet the girl for sex, but was instead met and arrested by investigators.

“It seems to be a growing problem, because we’ve been getting more and more reports of it now,” Langley said. “The Internet is, maybe, not the best thing in the world.”

Langley, Lolley and the ABI said the investigation is still ongoing.

Through its Internet Crimes Against Children program, the ABI seeks to detect sexual offenders who use the Internet to commit crimes against children. ICAC-trained officers with the ABI conduct online, undercover investigations and conduct forensic analysis of computers seized in ICAC investigations.

ABI agents also have trained officers at 10 ICAC satellite offices throughout Alabama, and have equipped these agencies with the necessary equipment to conduct ICAC investigations. ICAC satellite offices are the Calhoun, Dale, Dekalb, Elmore, Lee, Mobile and Tallapoosa sheriff departments, and the Hartselle, Huntsville and Sheffield police departments.

ICAC is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

– david.goodwin@demopolistimes.com