Police: Clarkston Man Joseph Slater Traded Child Porn For Years Before Arrest

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- Some DeKalb County residents were shocked to lea what may have been going on in their neighborhood.

Detectives arrested and charged Joseph Slater, of Clarkston, with child exploitation and said they also confiscated his computers.

”Thousands of images. We are still processing the evidence. It's going to take us weeks to process all the evidence because there is so much, said Detective Dave Brown.

”When we identified that there was a large quantity of child po from the location in DeKalb, we got a search warrant, said Brown.

A special unit tracked Slater for weeks and authorities said they believe Slater had been trading and collecting child po for nine years.

”We focus on combating online child exploitation, said Brown.

Residents who live in the area were stunned by the accusations.

”Very shocking. This is a very quiet area, one woman said.

Four detectives have been working three years catching criminals online, tracking IP addresses and posing as kids.

Brown told GA Daily News reporter Ryan Young that stopping the crimes is a round-the-clock effort.

”Very satisfying ... it's why I do what I do, said Brown.

”Our mission is to protect kids, said Brown.