Albany Herald

ALBANY .955-- A Dougherty County grand jury has indicted 28-year-old Ricky Randle on a count of child molestation and 100 counts of sexual exploitation of children Wednesday, officials said.

The charges are in addition to charges of raping a 4-year-old girl and aggravated child molestation filed in Mitchell County against Randle, officials said.

Randle faces 20 years in prison on each of the counts in Dougherty County, said Chief Assistant District Attorney Chris Cohilas, of the Dougherty Judicial Circuit.

The penalty could be life in prison if Randle is found guilty in Mitchell County, said Joseph Mulholland, district attorney for the South Georgia Judicial Circuit.

"Our office will take an extreme aggressive approach in cooperation with the other judicial circuit to make sure Randle is not seen again in our communities," Cohilas said.

Randle has remained in the Dougherty County Jail without bail since his arrest on Oct. 25 for molesting a 4-year-old girl, a jail spokeswoman said.

While investigating the molestation complaint, Jason Armstrong, an investigator with the Dougherty district attorney's office, said that 175 child-pornography pictures were found on Randle's Blackberry.

Those picture led to the 100 indictments for sexual exploitation of a child, Armstrong said. There were pictures from the Internet and Randle also had pictures of himself and a girl in a motel room, he added.

In connection with those sexual offenses, Regina Jay, a friend of Randle, was arrested on a charge of sexual exploitation of a child, Armstrong said. Jay gave Randle access to a 6-year-old girl, Armstrong said.

Jay was released on $10,000 bond from Dougherty County Jail, subject to electronic monitoring on a ruling by Chief Superior Court Judge Willie Lockett in December.

It will be a matter of discussion between the two prosecuting attorneys as to which jurisdiction tries Randle first, Cohilas said.