Seven people, some prominent figures, have been charged in connection with what law-enforcement agencies described as a sex and prostitution ring connected to Fort Valley State University (FVSU) between 2017 and earlier this year.
Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke says warrants were issued last week for six men charged with pandering and solicitation of sodomy: Ernest Harvey, 47, of Fort Valley, an assistant principal in charge of discipline at Huntington Middle School in Houston County; Kenneth Howard, 56, of Fort Valley, the city manager of Hinesville; Ryan Jenkins, 35, of Fort Valley; Charles Jones, 57, of Fort Valley, a former attorney for Fort Valley State; Devontae Little, 26, of Warner Robins; and Arthur James Nance Jr., 46, of Cordele, the vice chairman of the Crisp County Board of Commissioners and a local pastor and mortician.
Alecia Jeanetta Johnson, a 48-year-old former executive assistant to FVSU’s president, is accused of being its ringleader who set up sex for the men. Johnson, also the former graduate adviser to a sorority on campus, faces six counts of pimping and six counts of prostitution on allegations she performed, offered or consented to perform a sexual act for money or other items of value, prosecutors said.
FVSU campusJohnson also is charged with conspiracy to commit fiduciary theft stemming from allegations she conspired to take scholarship money, a book scholarship, that had been granted to a student in October 2015.
Cooke told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday afternoon that the seven had until Tuesday to turn themselves in to the Peach County Sheriffs office.
The GBI has been conducting the investigation with assistance from the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office and at the request of the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.
Officials had announced in April they were investigating sexual misconduct and hazing at Fort Valley, about 30 miles south of Macon.
