Mother of victim in alleged sexual exploitation case speaks out

HENRY COUNTY, Tenn. — We have ongoing coverage of the investigation into a man who was arrested for allegedly exploiting minors and women online.

After photos of dozens of women from the region surface on unauthorized social media accounts, the mother of one of the victims shares her experiences.

After a spate of unauthorized use of multiple personal images, 64-year-old Ronald Cummings is arrested and charged with alleged sexual exploitation of a minor.

Micah Hodge, the mother of one of the many victims, describes how she felt helpless. “I, as a mother, felt like I had no control over the situation where I had to protect my daughter,” Hodge said.

According to the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, a post was made on social media and photos of several women were circulating online. Some of the posts contained sexual captions and phrases and some of the photos contained minors. These photos appear to have been taken from other social media pages.

“I immediately started diving into those Instagram accounts because I had a gut feeling that she was on them,” Hodge said.

Hodge remembers the day everything started to get weird.

“I remember the day he friend requested me and the day he even said happy birthday to me because she and I were going to have the same birthday and he made a comment about her that day and that was the day they posted on Instagram,” Hodge said.

According to Hodge, the Internet should be a safe place to post photos of family and friends.

“We post pictures online because we’re proud of our family or ourselves, and we post them in good faith that our friends on Facebook won’t use them in a bad way,” Hodge said.

She talks about her daughter’s initial reaction and the traumatic stress she has experienced since then.

“Every time I brought it to her attention, she would immediately withdraw into herself and say, ‘Mom, this is scary.’ She even had trouble getting to the gas station and filling up that day,” Hodge said.

The Henry County Sheriff’s Office says this is an ongoing investigation and more charges are expected. If your photos have been used or if you have information about this case, please contact the Henry County Sheriff’s Investigation Division at 731-642-1672.

Cumming’s trial is tomorrow, September 24.

SEE ALSO: Arrest Made After Inappropriate Content Related to Minor Found Online

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