A former Georgia National Guardsman from Adairsville has been hit with a decade-long federal prison sentence after admitting he tried to coax a 15-year-old into making sexually explicit videos, federal prosecutors said. William Eric Cooper, 46, will also spend 10 years on supervised release once he gets out and was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said Tuesday that Cooper pleaded guilty on Aug. 25, 2025, to attempted enticement of a child and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II. Prosecutors said the punishment followed a federal probe that started after FBI agents in North Carolina rescued the teenager in February 2025 and later described Cooper’s conduct as severe, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Investigation and evidence
According to prosecutors, Cooper and the 15-year-old exchanged more than 1,000 messages in which he talked about meeting the girl for sex and pushed her to create sexually explicit videos. When agents arrested Cooper in March 2025, they found more than 250 images and videos depicting child sexual abuse on his phone. “Cooper is a predator who deserves this significant sentence,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement, per the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Guard service and local ties
At the time of his arrest, Cooper was serving in the Georgia National Guard. Officials said he has since been separated from the military with an “other than honorable” discharge. Local coverage reported that Cooper lived in Adairsville and that he was taken into custody in March 2025 after investigators searched his home and uncovered hundreds of images and videos, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
Prosecution and court outcome
Assistant U.S. Attorney Calvin A. Leipold III handled the prosecution. Federal officials said the investigation was led by the FBI, with help from the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office, according to reporting by Atlanta News First. Cooper, who pleaded guilty in August 2025, was sentenced in federal court this month to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Authorities said the case was pursued under a broader federal push to protect children from online exploitation. Local and federal officials pointed to Cooper’s sentence as a clear signal of how aggressively prosecutors intend to go after those who target minors on the internet, as noted by Coosa Valley News.
