Earlier this year the Mother of a very young teenage girl found out that a 40 year old, 6’4″, 240 lb adult male had raped and molested her daughter, possibly going on for as long as a year. She went to the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office. On May 6, 2024 “Justin X” was arrested and charged with the following: (a) RAPE; (b) Aggravated Sodomy; (c) Child Molestation; (d) Aggravated Child Molestation; and 3 other charges. Here is a copy of the redacted 8 Pg Charge Sheet.
Georgia Law does not allow an initial Magistrate Judge at a Bond Hearing to issue Bond for the above offenses. Bond for offenses such as this can only be set by a Superior Court Judge. On May 8 the Magistrate Judge set the Superior Court Bond Hearing for May 21, 2024.
Two days later on May 10, Judge Jason Deal (son of Georgia’s ex-Governor Nathan Deal) fastracked the Bond Hearing, and moved it up to May 15, 2024. On May 15, 2024 the Mother provided a Statement that she was opposed to Bond and Release of the Predator.
Ignoring the mother’s pleas and common sense, Judge Jason Deal issued this Child Rapist a Bond, and released him under PreTrial Supervision. Here are some program guidelines for the Dawson-Hall County Pretrial Supervision found at their website:
This program is designed to reduce the pre-adjudication jail population by providing an alternative to incarceration…. Release of eligible defendants prior to adjudication helps ease the financial burden of incarceration to Hall and Dawson taxpayers while ensuring the risk to the community is minimized.
Personally, I think most Dawson taxpayers would accept the “financial burden” in order to minimize “risk” of a Child Rapist being released back into our community. Also, if a Child Rapist is “eligible” for this program… what the hell would make someone “not eligible”? Seriously!?
Lucky for Dawson County, Judge Jason Deal was thinking smart. He only allowed the release conditionally IF “Justin X” was to move to the small town of Bradford, VT where his mother lives, far from Dawsonville, GA. Out of sight. Out of mind.
The first problem with this approach is that “Justin X” is still categorized in the system as “Unindicted”, and as such he is NOT listed on the Vermont Sex Offender Registry, NOR has the Vermont Corrections Office been notified so that they can keep tabs on him. Subsequently this small town of Bradford, VT has NO IDEA that a Child Predator has been released into their midst.
This is unfortunately very common, and is increasingly happening all over the U.S. — Unindicted Predators that are rubber stamped out on Bond are basically lost and forgotten in the system.
A similar story a few years back involved a local Big Canoe Realtor Walt Devault released on Bond for Sexually Abusing a 10 year old little girl. In a move very similar to this case, Judge Anthony Baker (Cherokee County, Georgia) released Walt D as an Unindicted person on Bond, and allowed him to move to South Carolina. As a Followup Article, it was discovered that Walt wasted no time setting up shop in SC offering babysitting services to a neighboring mom that had 4 young girls ages six (6), eight (8), ten ( 10) and eleven (11). It is my understanding that his molestations continued. <pause to let that sink in>
So our prayers go out to the families of Bradford VT. Very sincerely, and with great love, hope and concern for all of the young girls in that town, because the consequences of bonding out a predator like “Justin X” into this unsuspecting small town could be substantial.
But I guess Kudos are in order for Judge Jason Deal as he looks after the Dawson County Taxpayer’s “financial burden”.
The second problem with this approach is that Judge Jason Deal has now subjected the young teenage victim to substantial, ongoing mental and spiritual despair. As I started working on this story, I realized I hadn’t talked to the mother of Walt Devault’s young victim in years. I called her to see how her daughter was. She’s going off to college this year!
But her journey of recovery hasn’t been easy. One thing I am told that came out in counseling was how fearful her life was during the several years that Walt D was walking free. Even though he was in another state, in her young teenage mind, he could show up at any moment. Further, she had the constant reminder hanging over her head that at any moment they could call for the trial – where she would have to face her accuser and give testimony.
It wasn’t over for her, and she wasn’t allowed closure so that she could heal. One can only assume that “Justin X’s” young victim is facing the beginning of a similar nightmare thanks to the actions of what could be considered her “Judicial Rapist”, Judge Jason Deal. This young victim (and all like her) deserved swift Justice, and a feeling of Safety – but instead she got screwed by Judge Jason Deal.
As a Citizen of Dawson County, of the State of Georgia, of the United States of America…. I expect better. All of us do.
Our Judicial System is completely broken. This article is just the begining of a long series of Articles that are going to bring to light things that will most likely utterly astonish and disgust the citizenry. The above story of “Justin X” is just the beginning. Unfortunately it gets worse.
And almost every Judge and District Attorney in this Nation is complict. They KNOW how bad things have gotten. But they keep their heads down, their voices silent, and focus on job security, and increasing their taxpayer funded paychecks.
Public naming and shaming isn’t the goal here. But it can be a strong incentive to force an open discussion of how badly broken things are, and from there… discussion and ideas of how to start correcting and rebuilding the system. But right now there is just silent compliance to the problem, so we name and shame until something breaks. FYI… thanks to the NEWS Publicity, and the help of many Citizens that got involved…. Walt Devault got his Bond revoked, his case fast tracked to trial, he was found Guilty, and he is now serving a 15 year sentence. Citizen Journalism works.
I would like to end with: Prayers for the child, her family, even the many collateral victims within Justin X’s family. Prayers also for all the young children still suffering silently through hidden or ongoing abuse. Special Prayers of encouragement, strength and support for all the Judicial Insiders who know of all the problems in the system – that they find the BOLDNESS to speak out to News Media, and on Social Media, in order that the beginning of honest public scrutiny and awareness of the problems in our Judicial System can occur.
The Citizen Journalist Cooperative is a news project that seeks to attract & encourage Citizen Journalists ready to fight to take back our Country, our Liberties, and our Values. We fight with Pens as Swords, and Paper as our Shields. Perhaps not as glamorous as a blazing AK-47 and Hand Grenades…. but it has its moments 🙂
- https://CJC.news/
- https://x.com/CitizenCJC
- https://www.facebook.com/TheCJCPage/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheCJCGroup/
Peace,
– david / publisher
Citizen Journalist Cooperative (CJC)
themtnsvoice@aol.com
* a publication of The Mountains Voice