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Maximum sentence for Coweta child exploiter
A Coweta County judge sentenced Joshua Allwine to 19 years in prison after investigators decrypted thousands of disturbing images and a manual for assaulting children.
COWETA COUNTY, Ga. - A Coweta County man will spend the next 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to child exploitation charges involving thousands of encrypted images.
What we know:
Joshua Allwine pleaded guilty in a Coweta County courtroom following his arrest in 2022 for the sexual exploitation of children. A judge sentenced him to 19 years in prison, which District Attorney Herb Cranford described as the maximum sentence for one of the images.
Investigators said Allwine's computer was one of the most difficult to ever crack open. Inside, they found thousands of child sexual abuse images that were deeply encrypted. Allwine had previously bragged to law enforcement that they would never be able to access the files.
The backstory:
During the investigation, authorities discovered a PDF on Allwine's computer called "The Pedophile's Handbook." When the sheriff's office printed the document in June 2022, it was over 1,000 pages long. The manual included 28 chapters with instructions on how to find children and how to recruit single mothers to exploit their children.
What they're saying:
Cranford called the case one of the most "egregious" child pornography cases his office has ever handled.
What's next:
Allwine faces additional legal trouble from charges filed by Peachtree City police in 2022. Those cases remain open, and a trial is still pending. Cranford also noted that Georgia law changed one month after Allwine’s 2022 arrest; the new law would allow the state to seek a separate sentence for every single image found in a person's possession.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from FOX 5 reporter Doug Evans, who has covered this case since 2022, as well as statements from Coweta County District Attorney Herb Cranford and the Coweta County Sheriff's Office.