Sharpsburg man arrested in undercover operation targeting online predators

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. - Coweta County deputies have filed multiple charges against a Sharpsburg man who allegedly thought he was meeting a 12-year-old girl to have sex, but instead was in an undercover police operation.

Coweta County Sheriff’s investigators say Taylor Hannigan, 24, thought he was communicating online with a 12-year-old girl. 

They say the conversation turned from casual to sexual when Hannigan started sending photos of himself, one of which was nude.

Body cam video just released by the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office shows the September 14th arrest when Hannigan thought he was meeting the 12-year-old for sex. 

A deputy can be seen and heard tapping on Hannigan’s car window and ordering him to get out.

The undercover operation by the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office Crime Suppression Unit is part of an effort to crack down on online predators. 

Investigators say Hannigan followed a common course of an adult contacting who he thought was a child on social media and then moving to cell phone texting where the conversation turns dangerously criminal.

Deputies charged Hannigan with enticing a minor for indecent purposes, child molestation, sexual exploitation of children and use of a communication facility in the commission of a crime.