Update: Columbus executive pleads not guilty, gets bond in GBI child porn case
A local business executive charged with possessing child pornography after an Aug. 20 raid on his midtown home waived his preliminary hearing Monday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Judge Julius Hunter found probable cause to send Edward Sprouse Boyd’s case on to Muscogee Superior Court, ordering him held on bonds totaling $120,000 on six counts related to online child pornography.
Hunter ordered Boyd to have no contact with any minors, including his own children, when he’s released on bond.
Because the suspect waived his Monday hearing, the court heard no testimony regarding the evidence against Boyd, whose case now will go to a grand jury for review.
Boyd is a vice president at his family’s business, Goldens’ Foundry and Machine Company, though a company web page displaying his photo had been removed Monday. The company dates back to 1882.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested the 46-year-old execuive on Friday, when he was booked into the Muscogee County Jail at 6:27 p.m., records show. He remained jailed the over the weekend, awaiting his first court hearing.
The raid
An Aug. 20 raid on Boyd’s Carson Drive home, in the Averett Woods neighborhood off Hilton Avenue, drew so much attention from residents and reporters that the agency sent out a news release that day to explain that its Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit had served a search warrant and seized “multiple digital devices.” The agency offered no more details at that time.
After his arrest Friday, the GBI said an analysis of the electronics it seized revealed Boyd had uploaded to the internet pornographic images involving children:
“The investigation into Boyd began after multiple tips were received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the possible possession and upload of child pornography by Boyd to a popular online platform,” read a GBI news release.
The agency said the arrest was part of its Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force effort to “identify those involved in the child pornography trade and the online sexual exploitation of children.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 7:43 PM.