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Murphy – A Georgia schoolteacher and pastor who was accused of sexually assaulting a child when he lived in Cherokee County was convicted of lesser charges in a plea deal with the District Attorney’s Office.
Jeffrey McCammon – a 48-year-old Locust City, Ga., resident with a doctorate degree in mathematics – had been pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church in Stone Mountain and a math teacher at the Rockdale Magnet School for Science & Technology in 2021 when he was accused of taking indecent liberties with a child and solicitation of prostitution. The alleged victim was a child under age 16 who was reportedly known to McCammon.
Those charges were dismissed in exchange for McCammon pleading guilty to assault inflicting serious injury and assault on a child under 12, each carrying a maximum punishment of 150 days for a total possible sentence of 300 days.
McCammon was sentenced to 60 days in jail, but the punishment was suspended for three years of supervised probation.
Other provisions of the conviction include, according to the sentencing documents, no unsupervised contact with any minor; no contact with the victim or victim’s family; waive supervision fee if transferred; may transfer to Georgia; and submit to warrantless searches of any computer, cell phone, iPad, hard drive or other device capable of transmitting digital information, where such device is known by defendant or in defendant’s possession and control at the time of search.
The conviction was handed down on Nov. 27 in Cherokee County Superior Court by Judge William Coward. Assistant district attorney Kimberly Harris represented the state. Franklin-based attorney Rich Cassady represented McCammon.
McCammon had no prior criminal record.
Court documents allege the incident happened between April 2015 and June 2016, when McCammon lived in North Carolina. Authorities say the allegations were initially reported to social service and law enforcement officials in Georgia who then contacted deputies in Cherokee County.
McCammon was arrested following an investigation by local authorities. A grand jury subsequently issued an indictment against McCammon, charging him with a felony count of indecent liberties with a child.
With a criminal trial looming, the district attorney filed paperwork advising that it intended to call an expert witness knowledgeable about forensic interviewing and the dynamics of sexual abuse, according to court documents.
“The state intends to ask the expert about the characteristics of sexually abused children and the impact of grooming behaviors, if any; and, the impact of grooming behavior, if any, on the disclosure of sexual abuse,” according to the document, which was filed on Nov. 22.
One of the court documents about the plea agreement was dated Nov. 22, with 22 crossed out and 27 written in its place. It is unclear whether the Nov. 22 date was a typographical error or whether that was the original date of the plea agreement, edited to reflect the actual date of the conviction.