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Georgia Deputy Canned After Arrest for Rape, Child Molestation, Police Say

Derrick Gardner, 34, was hit with a slew of sex-crime charges, according to authorities.

A deputy in DeKalb County, Georgia, was fired after he was arrested Sunday on a slew of sex-crime charges, including child molestation, authorities said.

Derrick Gardner, 34, was arrested Sunday by the DeKalb County Police Department and was charged with trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, rape, child molestation, first-degree cruelty to children, enticing a child for indecent purposes, and aggravated sexual battery, authorities said.

DeKalb police spokesperson Michaela Vincent told The Daily Beast Monday that officers responded to a 911 call and a report about a rape on Sunday and arrested Gardner following their investigation.

Gardner was subsequently fired from his post at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.

“Gardner’s employment has been terminated,” DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox said in an emailed statement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Monday.

The arrest and firing joins a rash of charges against local law enforcement in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, a deputy in nearby Spalding County was arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and electronically distributing obscene materials to a minor.

Mason Lumpkin, 26, allegedly sent “lewd” pictures and messages via Snapchat to a 16-year-old girl that were also seen by a younger child who was 9, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Gardner’s charges also come on the heels of the arrest and firing of Cobb County deputy Dyimond Johnson, 30.

Johnson is accused of crossing guard lines with a controlled substance and violation of oath of office, authorities said.

On Friday, Bleckley County Sheriff Kristopher Coody surrendered on a sexual battery charge after allegedly groping a woman at a hotel bar that appeared to coincide with a winter training conference for the Georgia Sheriff’s Association at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel & Convention Center in northwest Atlanta.

Gardner is being held without bond at the DeKalb jail.

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Zoe Richards

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