Man Takes Girls For Pizza Before Molestation, Gets 40 Years

DOUGLAS COUNTY, GA – Charles McKinney, 37, pled guilty on Monday, Sept. 24 to two counts of child molestation on the morning of trial in front of Chief Superior Court Judge David T. Emerson. Following his plea of guilty, he received a 40 year sentence. The case was prosecuted by Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Steve Knittel.

On Nov. 12, 2016, McKinney contacted the then girlfriend of his brother and invited her two daughters, ages 10 and 5, to come over to his house and go with him and his two step-daughters to Chuck E Cheese. The 10-year-old victim had never before been to McKinney’s home which was located on Warren Drive in Douglasville. McKinney told the mother that his step-daughters were coming to visit that day from Marietta. After he took the girls to Chuck E Cheese, he contacted the victim’s mother asking if the girls could spend the night at his house with his step-daughters under the guise that the girls were having fun and wanted to do their nails and watch a movie.

Once back at the house the girls and McKinney spent time in his bedroom watching movies and doing their nails before going to sleep in his bed. McKinney slept at the head of the bed lying in the middle of the 10-year old-victim and her 5-year-old sister.

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Sometime during the night, the victim was awakened to McKinney's hand touching and rubbing on her breast. She was immediately fearful and reported she didn’t know what to do. He then proceeded to sodomize the victim orally before having sexual intercourse with her. After he stopped he instructed her to take a shower.

The next morning, McKinney first drove his step-daughters along with the victim all the way to the Big Chicken in Marietta to drop the step-daughters back with their mother, and then drove all the way back to Douglasville, stopping to buy ice cream for the victim and picking up his son’s puppy to give as a gift to the victim before bringing her back to her mother’s home.

When the victim arrived home her mother quickly saw something was wrong and the traumatized child told her mother she wanted to speak to her as soon as “he” left, referring to McKinney. As soon as he left, the victim told her mother what happened. The mother called 911 and police responded immediately to begin an investigation.

McKinney lived approximately five minutes from the victim’s home and before police arrived he had already washed the bedding from the night before. McKinney’s older step-daughter stated that he was paying an unusual amount of attention to the victim, including tickling her frequently during the time they were together.

District Attorney Ryan Leonard praised the courage of the victim for coming forward and disclosing what the Defendant did to her. “Because she was able to tell her mother about the heinous crimes the defendant committed, law enforcement was able to immediately investigate the case, corroborate the allegations, and swiftly arrest the defendant so that he would be brought to justice. This sentence ensures the defendant will be unable to victimize any more children in our community and that our community is safer than it was before his arrest, and the credit for that goes to this child who had the courage to speak up about what happened to her.”

Assistant District Attorney Knittel also praised the victim, stating, “She showed great courage throughout the case and we hope she can now gain some semblance of closure and move forward with the healing process.”

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