Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth Count
Vol. 94, No. 204
Friends back
suspect in
molestation
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
The attorney for a 56-year-old Cumming man
accused of molesting a preschooler at a home
daycare center said Friday his client has an air
tight alibi for the day police allege the girl was
abused.
An arrest warrant accuses Carl Sharp of
molesting the preschooler between 8:30 a.m and
5:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 at the daycare center run by
his wife within the couple’s Wade Valley Drive
home; and Sharp spent most of the the day hunt
ing with 40 to 50 people in south Georgia, said
attorney Leighton B. Deming Jr.
“We have absolute proof he was out of town
that day,” Deming said. “He had no opportunity
to do this.”
The attorney provided a timeline of Carl
Sharp’s whereabouts on the day in question, say
ing it proves his client could not have sexually
abused the child.
According to the attorney: Sharp did not see
any of the children at the daycare center between
8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m at which time he left the
home with his wife, leaving the children in the
care of a family friend. A receipt places Carl
Sharp at Kroger at 9:41 a.m. A visitors list puts
the Sharps eating lunch with their grandchild at a
local public school between 11:30 a.m. and 12:15
a.m. A receipt from Wal-Mart shows he made a
purchase at 12:57 p.m. He returned home at 1
p.m. and remained for about 15 minutes, never
going past the kitchen and not coming into con
tact with any of the children. He then left for the
hunting trip for the rest of the day.
The attorney said the mother of the preschool
er picked up her child from the Sharps’ home
about 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 21. She called the day
care at 6:35 p.m. and said her daughter was
screaming in the bathroom because she had
scratched herself in the genital area, Deming said.
The preschooler returned to the daycare center
on Monday but did not return Tuesday after the
allegation of child abuse was made, according to
Deming.
The medical exam revealed a very small
amount of blood in the genital area and a doctor
who saw the child attributed the blood to a
scratch, Deming said.
He said he believes the child would have been
bleeding more throughout the entire day if she
were molested on Nov. 21.
Forsyth County sheriff’s detectives declined to
release the results of the medical exam, citing an
ongoing investigation and the sensitive nature of
the charges. Detectives said the arrest followed an
outcry the preschooler made to her parents and a
medical exam performed on the child at an area
hospital.
The mere suspicion of child molestation is
ruining the life of a longtime county resident who
has no prior arrest record and who is respected in
business and church circles, Deming said. Sharp's
bond conditions prohibit him from having any
contact with a child under age 16.
“He can’t even go to church because children
See FRIENDS, Page 2A
Justice center would blend in with existing downtown buildings
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
A grand jury-appointed
task force on Friday released
an artist’s rendering of a
Forsyth County detention cen
ter and judicial complex pro
posed for downtown Cum
ming. Voters will decide
whether to foot the bill for the
s6l million center on March
2, the same day as the presi
dential primary elections.
The rendering released by
the 23-member task force,
which studied the needs facing
local law enforcement and
judicial officers, reflects a
simple architectural design
with brick facades and straight
lines.
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The drawings done by
Atlanta-based consultants
Heery International represent
a “traditional eclectic” style
consistent with recent archi
tecture in downtown Cum
ming where the complex
INDEX
Abby •••«•••••••••■••••••••••••••••••••• ...4C
Births 4B
Classifieds sC
Deaths 2A
Forsyth Life...lß
Horoscope
Opinion 14A
Sports 1C
SUNDAY December 21,2003
Pets like December, too
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Photo/David McGregor
Fox, pet of Megan Baraona of Forsyth County, sports a Santa Claus
suit at the Pets Mart store on Market Place Boulvevard made just for
his size.
It’s a pet-icularly great time of
the year for gifts animalish
By Kim Ash
Staff Writer
Cats adorned in reindeer antler
ears may be leading Santa's sleigh on
Christmas Eve this season.
Dogs, sporting jingle bell collars,
may be heard jingling as they walk.
This holiday season, retailers are
finding a big demand for pet para
phernalia, including antler ears, red
bows and pet treats to spread the holi
day cheer to animal friends.
Pet parents have many items to
choose from as the trend has become
a popular one, says a spokeswoman
for the American Pet Products
Manufacturers Association.
According to Julie Rowe, spokes
woman for APPM A, one of the most
would be built, said Roger
Crow, chairman of the ta§k
force.
The courthouse itself is
patterned after the 1854
Forsyth County courthouse.
Each building consisting of
Couple in two-year
battje for the right
to drive their car
Page 3A
popular items the association recom
mends is edible greeting cards, which
are made of flattened rawhide and
non-toxic ink. The association also
offers other ideas such as treats and
pet charms, according to Rowe.
According to Robert Vetere of the
APPMA, pets are deserving of won
derful gifts just like family members
and friends.
“Pets bring so much joy and relax
ation to people that it’s only natural
we’re inclined to, and feel good about,
lavishing our pets and friends’ and
family members' pets with gifts
around the holidays,” he said in an
APPMA press release.
See PETS, Page 6A
a judicial complex, detention
center and sheriff’s adminis
trative offices, sheriff’s
precinct and parking deck
is rectangular with rows of
windows and a modest num
ber of archways. One of the
Forsyth Central teams
play in Lumpkin County
tournament
PagelC
SI.UU
25-year
sentence
for dealer
of meth
By Steven H. Pollak
Staff Writer
A drug dealer who sold so much methampheta
mine here it amounted to “flooding this county
with poison,” was sentenced Friday to serve 25
years in prison.
The defendant, Charles E. “Buck” Ledbetter,
47, said the lengthy punishment
may as well equal a life sentence
because he suffers from
Hepatitis C and the disease will
most likely kill him before he
ever gets out of prison. ‘
He related his health condi
tion while asking for leniency
from Chief Judge Jeffrey S.
Bagley.
“I haven’t denied my guilt,”
Ledbetter said. “I admitted I am
a drug addict. ... I hate to spend the rest of my life
behind bars with Hepatitis C.”
While noting the defendant’s desire for mercy,
Bagley said Ledbetter’s drug dealing has
“destroyed” the lives of too many people by turn
ing them into addicts.
The judge called methamphetamine use in
Forsyth County an “epidemic that’s getting out of
hand.”
“One way to stop it is to put people like you
behind bars,” Bagley said.
According to court records, Ledbetter has a his
tory of drug problems stretching back two decades.
In addition to the latest offenses and one previ
ous drug conviction in Forsyth County in 1987,
over the past 20 years Ledbetter has been indicted
or convicted on drug charges in Fayette, Gwinnett,
DeKalb and Pickens counties.
On Friday, the defendant’s attorney, David
Turk, said his client was “an easy mark for law
enforcement.”
He questioned why, in this latest investigation,
the GBI didn't arrest Ledbetter after one undercov
er buy but allowed the operation to continue, lead
ing to five drug purchases and multiple felony
charges.
“They could have stopped after one,” Turk said.
The attorney noted that Ledbetter does not have
a violent criminal history but that all of his prior
offenses stemmed from his drug addiction.
He said Ledbetter was nothing more than “a
mule who’s feeding his habit,” and asked the judge
to consider a lesser sentence of 15 years in prison.
The prosecutor, James Dunn, said Ledbetter
was one of the top local distributors of metham
phetamine who needed to be put in prison for a
long time.
“There's got to be a price to pay,” he said.
See METH, Page 7A
«ii m ir>
Left, an artist’s rendering of the outside of the proposed
justice center. Above, the way a new sheriff’s precinct
would look on the outside.
few flourishes depicted in the
renderings is limestone on the
ground floor of the judicial
complex, a homage to the for
mer courthouse.
The task force made a con
scious effort to keep costs
Sl “" y , LAKE LANIER LEVELS
Date Level
Dec 16 1069.52 ft
Dec 17 1069.48 ft
£ Dec 18 1069.42 ft
Dec, 19 1069.38 ft
High in the lower 50s io7i. w n?
Low in the lower 30s
Home in Forsyth
(but not for Christmas)
EJ/ 1
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Ledbetter
down, evidenced by the lack
of steeples, atriums or clock
towers on the buildings, Crow
said.
Even if voters approve the
See JUSTICE, Page 2A