A 57-year-old Brewton man remained in the Escambia County Detention Center this week after several charges were lodged against him involving sexual abuse of a child, then two drug-related charges were tacked on during his arrest.
According to a press release issued last week by Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mike Lambert, warrants were issued for the arrest of George Newton Pettis of a Janice Lane address after a months-long investigation turned up evidence that he had made inappropriate contact with a preteen child.
The probe, which also included the Escambia County Department of Human Resources and the Escambia County Child Advocacy Center, began in late September after sheriff’s investigators received a complaint from the child’s guardian.
As a result of the investigation, warrants were obtained for Pettis’s arrest on one count each of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, enticing of a child for immoral purposes and first-degree sodomy.
When deputies and county detectives arrived at the suspect’s home on December 7 to serve the warrants, they conducted a routine pat-down on him and found a glass pipe containing burned residue and a small cylinder-type item with a lid that contained a white crystal substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
Those discoveries led to additional charges of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.
Pettis is being held under total bonds of $250,000.