Ohio man to serve 15 years in Middle Georgia child molestation case

Dante Ahke Withers will serve 15 years in prison, register as a sex offender and be banished from the Macon Judicial Circuit.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — An Ohio man was sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to child molestation involving a 12-year-old girl from Middle Georgia.

According to the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, Dante Ahke Withers, who Bibb County Jail records show is 33 years old, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of child molestation.

A judge sentenced Withers to 20 years, with the first 15 years to be served in prison and the remainder on probation.

Prosecutors said Withers was 29 when he met the victim through a social media app. They said he began communicating with and grooming the girl before traveling from Ohio to Georgia, where he had illegal sexual contact with her.

The victim’s father became concerned about the relationship and reported it to Macon law enforcement. According to prosecutors, the father also recorded a phone call in which Withers admitted having a relationship with the girl.

The district attorney’s office said investigators initially struggled to move the case forward because the victim didn’t disclose the abuse during a forensic interview.

Two years later, the FBI’s Cyber Crime Unit in Ohio found digital evidence connecting Withers to the victim during an unrelated child exploitation investigation, according to prosecutors.

The FBI referred the evidence to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, which obtained arrest warrants for Withers. Prosecutors said statements Withers made after his arrest further supported the case.

As part of the plea agreement, Withers must register as a sex offender and comply with registry requirements. He is also barred from contacting the victim or her family and banished from the Macon Judicial Circuit.

His sentence also includes a Fourth Amendment waiver and prohibitions on drugs, alcohol, weapons and firearms.

“This defendant used the anonymity of the internet to target and groom a child, then crossed state lines to abuse her,” Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard said. “This 20-year sentence, along with lifetime sex offender registration and a permanent ban from our Circuit, reflects the severity of these crimes. We are grateful to the FBI and the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for their diligence in connecting the evidence that made this prosecution possible, and we remain committed to protecting children in our community from predators like this one.”