Cherokee Man Pleads Guilty To Sexual Abuse Of Teen: Prosecutors

CANTON, GA — An Acworth man recently entered a negotiated sentence of 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to various child sex crimes, Cherokee County District Attorney Susan K. Treadaway said in a news release on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Dustin Jon Gottschall, 36, on Feb. 18, pled guilty to aggravated sexual battery, five counts of child molestation and first-degree cruelty to children.

The charges against Gottschall stemmed from a November 2022 investigation. Prosecutors said a 15-year-old girl accused Gottschall of sexually abusing her for three years.

While speaking with detectives, prosecutors said Gottschall "initially described the allegations as 'weird'" and advised the girl "may have misconstrued something."

During a forensic interview, the girl said she believed Gottschall recorded the abuse on his cellphone, prosecutors said. The digital evidence was later recovered, prosecutors said.

“During the prosecution of this case, (Cherokee Sheriff's Office’s) Intelligence Unit conducted a thorough review of the defendant’s cellphone based upon the victim’s disclosure," Assistant District Attorney Meaghan Frankish, of the Special Victims Unit, said in the release.

"Using new technology, they were able to extract evidence located in an encrypted folder the defendant created that corroborated the child in this case. When this evidence came to light, the defendant made the decision to plead guilty.”

Gottschall acknowledged the crimes at a plea hearing and entered a negotiated sentence of 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole, followed by life on probation with sex offender special conditions, prosecutors said. Additionally, he cannot have contact with the girl, prosecutors said.

“The facts of this case are disturbing, with trauma so deep that the victim was initially unable to even speak the words to describe what this man did to her," Treadaway said in the release. "Instead, she took pen to paper and wrote out the horrifying story, taking her first step to healing. We are thankful that this defendant is being held accountable and that this plea spared an innocent victim the pain of having to relive this trauma.”