A 24-year-old Hogansville man was arrested Sept. 22 on charges tied to the alleged possession of child pornography, following a months-long investigation that began with a single online tip. Brenton Purgason now faces charges related to sexual exploitation of children, according to the Troup County Sheriff's Office.
The case traces back to an August cybertip that reached the Troup County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, indicating that a man in the county may possess child sexual abuse material, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. That tip set off the investigation that led investigators to Purgason weeks later. As of Sept. 25, authorities said the investigation remained active, and no mug shot or further details about the case had been released.
How a Single Tip Triggers a Task Force Response
Cybertips like the one that led to Purgason's arrest can originate from internet service providers, social media companies, or ordinary members of the public, per the same report. Once received, those tips are routed to task forces made up of federal, state, and local agencies dedicated to investigating the online exploitation of children. The report notes that authorities currently have no additional information available beyond the arrest itself.
The tipline system that flagged Purgason's case functions as part of a much larger national infrastructure. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children operates the CyberTipline, described as the nation's centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children. Both the public and electronic service providers can use it to report suspected online enticement of children, and NCMEC staff review each tip to try to pinpoint a location so the report can reach the right law enforcement agency.
A Pattern Seen Elsewhere in Georgia
Purgason's case echoes a similar one from earlier this year in southeast Georgia. In that case, the GBI arrested and charged Blake Davis Todd, also 24, of Lyons, with one count of sexual exploitation of children on Aug. 4, according to Lanier County News Online. That investigation began in January when the GBI's Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit received its own Cyber Tipline Report from NCMEC concerning possible online possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. The Toombs County Sheriff's Office assisted with that case, which the outlet described as part of the ongoing effort by Internet Crimes Against Children task forces to identify people involved in trading such material.
The scale of tips feeding these local investigations has grown sharply in recent years nationally. NCMEC reports that CyberTipline submissions rose more than 12% in 2023 from the prior year, surpassing 36.2 million reports, while online enticement reports jumped more than 300%, from 44,155 in 2021 to 186,819 in 2023. By 2025, the CyberTipline had logged 1.4 million reports concerning online enticement of children, including more than 80,000 involving sextortion, and reports of child sex trafficking rose 323% compared with the year before. Electronic service providers alone submitted 61.8 million images, videos and other files tied to reported exploitation incidents that year, according to NCMEC's data.
Purgason is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The Troup County investigation remains active, and no further details have been released.
