Forsyth man gets life in prison in dark web child exploitation case

Kelly Garrett Ivey pleaded guilty in Jasper County after investigators learned about a dark web plan to traffic a child.

MONTICELLO, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Forsyth man who prosecutors say used the dark web to target a child has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday in Jasper County.

According to a Facebook post from Ocmulgee District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III, 43-year-old Kelly Garrett Ivey pleaded guilty in the Superior Court of Jasper County to trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, cruelty to children in the first degree and criminal attempt to commit rape.

“Today, a monster was taken off the streets of Georgia,” Barksdale wrote.

Barksdale said the case began when the FBI contacted the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office with information about a posting on the dark web. An investigation followed and showed Ivey befriended a child on social media after meeting the child while volunteering at a local church.

According to the DA, investigators learned Ivey used the child’s social media posts and photos “to solicit child molesters.” An examination of his electronic devices revealed a plan “to offer the child for sex to perverts, sexual deviants, and criminals.” Barksdale said the plot was stopped through the work of the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and other agencies.

Ivey was sentenced in Monroe and Jasper counties on two separate cases. Barksdale said he “ultimately received life to serve fifty years in prison.”

Tuesday’s sentencing follows indictments earlier this year. In February, 41NBC reported Ivey was indicted in Monroe County on 17 charges, including computer pornography, obscene internet contact with a child and multiple counts of sexual exploitation of children. Court documents at the time said he shared children’s personal information online and tried to arrange kidnappings and sexual assaults between May and June 2023.

A separate indictment filed in Jasper County accused Ivey of using a dark web marketplace called “Slave Bay” to advertise information about a minor. Prosecutors said he offered financial compensation to people he believed would kidnap, rape and traffic the child and provided a home address and photos through an encrypted platform.

Barksdale thanked investigators and prosecutors involved in the case, saying the outcome would not have been possible without their work. He also urged adults to pay close attention to who interacts with children.

“In closing, parents, teachers, and anyone else that works with children, please be aware that evil walks among us every day,” he said. “Know the people that hang around your children. Report suspicious activity to law enforcement immediately. That hunch you have may save a child.”