Former elementary principal John Harold McGill convicted in sex sting

A former local elementary school principal has been convicted after a jury trial of trying to entice a minor for sex.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attoey General’s Office in North Georgia, John Harold McGill, 57, of Douglasville, was the principal of Mt. Carmel Elementary School in Douglas County until he was arrested on March 2, 2014.

According to United States Attoey Sally Yates, the charges and evidence presented state that on Saturday, March 1, 2014, McGill responded to an inteet advertisement named ”casual encounters.  He began talking to someone he thought was a mother seeking a man to introduce her 13-year-old daughter to sexual intercourse.

McGill communicated with the person he thought was the mother through emails and texts, the news release said.

Then, in the early hours of March 2, 2014, authorities say McGill drove to the home 50 miles away. His wife was out of town at a conference and he put his children to bed, the release said. Then, he drove from Douglasville to Lithonia.

Instead of the mother of a teen, he met an FBI agent who took him into custody.

He showed up at 1:45 a.m. and had a condom in his pants pocket, according to Yates.

”The idea that an elementary school principal would attempt to have sex with a thirteen-year-old girl is disgraceful, Yates said in a statement. ”McGill violated a public trust and all sense of common decency, and a jury has held him criminally responsible.

A jury convicted McGill after a two-day trial. Federal District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr., remanded McGill into custody and set sentencing for Feb. 6, 2015 at 9:30 a.m.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Cobb County Police Department, and the DeKalb County District Attoey’s Office.

 Assistant United States Attoey William G. Traynor prosecuted the case.

In February 2006, the Attoey General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

Led by the United States Attoey’s Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children