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Adam Blake Boyett was found guilty of two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and six counts of child molestation on Friday afternoon, while being declared not guilty of two counts of enticement, and a directed verdict declared for one charge of rape and one charge of incest.

The initial accusations were brought to law enforcement in September 2019, when Boyett was accused of harming his stepdaughter. The rape and incest charges were brought just before his trial, which was originally scheduled to begin earlier this year.

Boyett pled not guilty, and the trial began last Wednesday.

Investigator Justin Kelly was the lead investigator throughout the case, and testified at the trial. When asked about the not guilty verdicts, Kelly clarified that the charges pertained to two alleged enticement incidents: one, where Boyett allegedly tried to entice the victim to come out to a shed, and another where he attempted to entice her into his bedroom.

“Now the actual acts themselves, of course, they found him guilty” Kelly said. “I guess in their minds, his actions were enough to find him guilty on actually enticing her to come in.”

On the subject of the frequency of sex crimes, Kelly said, “It’s kind of always been that way. They kind of come in waves, some months we have several, some months we have none.” If someone suspects a child is in danger or being abused, Kelly encouraged reporting it.

Amy Eakin, of the Oak House Child Advocacy Center, also testified, having interviewed the victim on multiple occasions.

“I think that the team of investigators, prosecutors, everybody that worked through 2019 with this case, has done an outstanding job for getting justice for this victim,” she said.

If someone suspects a child may be being abused, Eakin noted some signs to look for: “The child being withdrawn, the child could start to act out, act out sexually, act out in school, start having failing grades. You see a change in the child’s behavior,” she said.

Boyett was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Heather Lanier to serve 30 years in the Georgia Department of Corrections, as well as 20 years probation, and a life registration as a sex offender. The state was represented by Chief Assistant District Attorney, Michael L. Bankston.