Deputy sheriff in sex offender unit faces child porn charges in Georgia, feds say
A high-ranking law enforcement officer in a Georgia sheriff’s office is accused of sharing pictures of child sexual abuse on the social media site MeWe, federal prosecutors said.
Peter Bilardello, former Cobb County deputy sheriff, has been indicted on charges of distributing and possessing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia said in a news release on Wednesday, Feb. 9. A deputy sheriff generally ranks directly below the sheriff.
Bilardello, 51, resigned from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office immediately after his arrest, prosecutors said.
He could not be reached for comment, and information regarding his defense attorney was not immediately available as of Feb. 9.
“Every time pornographic images are distributed online, that child is continuously re-victimized,” Special Agent in Charge Philip Wislar, of FBI Atlanta, said in the release. “The FBI will not tolerate predators who prey on our children, especially ones like Bilardello, who are sworn law enforcement officers that took an oath to protect the citizens of our community.”
In a statement to McClatchy News on Feb. 10, a spokesperson for the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office said Bilardello worked there from Dec. 5, 2005, to Aug. 16, 2021. He was assigned to the Sex Offender Unit from February 2017 to April 2021.
“Sheriff (Craig) Owens worked in partnership with the Cobb County Police Department concerning the charges against Mr. Bilardello, immediately relieved him of duty, and initiated an Internal Affairs investigation,” a spokesperson said. “Mr. Bilardello, a Deputy, resigned from the Sheriff’s Office on August 16, 2021 while the Internal Affairs investigation was ongoing.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, investigators were tipped off to someone sharing child pornography on the social media site MeWe by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
MeWe, an app built on the promise of keeping user data private, first became popular among conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers in 2019 who were “frustrated by Facebook censorship,” Rolling Stone reported. It saw another resurgence among conservatives in November 2020 after former President Donald Trump lost the election, according to Mashable.
The NCMEC received a report in November 2019 that a MeWe user had uploaded at least 12 sexual images showing kids under 12, prosecutors said.
They then passed that information to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which traced the account to Marietta, Georgia. The Cobb County Police Department subsequently became involved, according to prosecutors.
But it wasn’t until nearly two years after the pictures were discovered that detectives were able to link the MeWe account to Bilardello on Aug. 10, 2021. Prosecutors said Bilardello had worked for the sheriff’s office for more than 15 years — some of which was spent in the Sex Offender Unit — before he became deputy sheriff.
A search of Bilardello’s house and cellphone confirmed the deputy had shared child pornography online “while chatting with other users,” the government said.
More than 100 pictures and videos of young children engaged in sexually explicit conduct were ultimately found.
In a statement to McClatchy News, MeWe said it removed Bilardello’s account and reported it to authorities.
“MeWe has a strong Terms of Service that prohibits illegal activity of any kind,” the company said. “MeWe is vigilant about this issue and we have an outstanding Trust and Safety Team that works hard every day to proactively investigate and take action against TOS-violaters. Illegal activity is reported to law enforcement at MeWe’s discretion, and law enforcement can follow procedures in our terms to request information from us.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Deputy sheriff in sex offender unit faces child porn charges in Georgia, feds say."
