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Newton County man arrested on exploitation, molestation charges
Allegedly committed crimes in Newton County, other parts of U.S. while married to traveling nurse
GBI logo
Tom Spigolon
Updated: Oct 19, 2021, 6:29 PM
Published: Oct 19, 2021, 2:49 AM

COVINGTON, Ga. — A 45-year-old man has been arrested for crimes that allegedly occurred in Newton County and other parts of the country following a joint law enforcement agency investigation into online exploitation and child molestation.  

On Friday, Oct. 15, federal marshals arrested Derrick Crooms of Newton County and charged him with two counts each of Incest, Aggravated Sexual Battery, Aggravated Child Molestation  and Child Molestation; and one count of Enticing a Child for Indecent Purposes.

Crooms was being held without bond in the Newton County Detention Center.

Newton County Sheriff’s Office , GBI, and Oconee County Sheriff’s Office worked jointly on the case, the GBI stated in a news release.

GBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Lindsay Marchant said in the release that, "In December 2020, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit received a request for assistance from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation of numerous sex offenses against children by Crooms.

"The investigation revealed that these crimes allegedly occurred in Newton County, Georgia, as well as several different locations throughout the United States," Marchant said.

The GBI asked the U.S. Marshals Service to assist with locating and capturing Crooms on his criminal charges.  The Marshals Service arrested Crooms in Stone Mountain following a tip received by a marshal and transported him to the Newton County Jail.

Crooms had been convicted before on similar charges. In 2017, Crooms was able to convince a judge to remove his name from the sex offender registry, Fox5 News reported.

During many of the offenses committed by Crooms, he was married to and traveling around the country with Rachel Overton. 

Overton was a traveling nurse and the investigation determined that she became aware of Crooms’ criminal acts and failed to report them to law enforcement, a news release stated. 

She also was charged with Cruelty to Children-3rd Degree and Failure to Report as a Mandated Reporter. Overton was taken into custody Feb. 23 with the assistance of the Racine County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin.

She was later extradited to Oconee County and released on bail shortly afterwards.

The investigation was part of the ongoing effort by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, housed within the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, to identify those involved in the child pornography trade. 

"The ICAC Program, created by the U.S. Department of Justice, was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teens using the Internet, the proliferation of child sexual abuse material, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims," the release stated.

Anyone with information about other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Unit at 404-270-8870. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS(8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

Derrick Crooms
Derrick Crooms - photo by Courtesy of the Newton County Sheriff's Office
Covington man convicted of child abuse and neglect by Newton County jury
Carey Donovan Clark
Kate Verity
Updated: Apr 8, 2025, 8:25 PM
Published: Apr 8, 2025, 8:21 PM

NEWTON COUNTY – Last Thursday evening, a Newton County jury found Covington resident Carey Donovan Clark guilty of six counts of cruelty to children in the second degree and one count of aggravated battery.

According to a press release from the Newton County District Attorney’s office, the charges stem “from the abuse and neglect of multiple children.” There were a total of six children affected, all of whom were younger than 10. 

The case warranted the involvement of Newton County and Cherokee County DFCS and the children involved received services from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and A Child's Voice Child Advocacy Center. The investigation and arrest washandled by the Newton County Sheriff’s Office.

According to Assistant District Attorney Bailey Wilkinson, the three older children went to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and one child remained hospitalized for a few days due to internal and external injuries.

Clark’s co-defendant in the case, Nora Rodgers, was sentenced in December 2023 after pleading guilty. Rodgers received 60 years with the first 30 years in confinement. 

Nora Rodgers
Nora Rodgers

Clark’s sentencing will be held at a later date. A pre-sentencing report is still being completed, and Clark will remain in custody until he is sentenced.

According to the press release, both Rodgers and Clark would make the children involved perform exercises and would not give the children “necessary sustenance.” A doctor testifying from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta reportedly called the children’s experiences “torture.” 

According to Wilkinson, the abuse was dealt at the hands of both Rodgers and Clark. The eight of them had lived together since 2018.

When Rodgers was sentenced, a statement released detailed some of the exercises the children were forced to perform. 

“Over the years the children had suffered torture under the guise of punishment. They were forced to do extreme bootcamp style exercises,” the statement with Rodgers’ sentencing read. “They would have to run laps, squats with large

logs from the yard, jumping jacks, etc., for extended time periods and to the point of exhaustion and injury. They would often have to perform these exercises in the middle of the night and in the heat of summer."

The statement further declared that Rodgers would “beat” the children if their exercise was not up to her standards and that she would spar with them as well, often hitting them. 

Wilkinson told The Covington News that the methods to punish the children were decided on together by Clark and Rodgers. Clark did not engage in the sparring, but he was aware of it. She added that Clark did engage in the exercise and physical punishments, but not to the same extent as Rodgers.