Relatives of a young girl who was allegedly molested by a White County man are upset he’s now out of jail.
The White County Sheriff’s Office charged Tim Motes with one count of child molestation and one count of sexual battery. A deputy arrested him on March 5 and booked him into the White County Detention Center. Motes bonded out of jail within hours.
According to jail records, the 52-year-old was released on $20,000 bond – $5,000 for the sexual battery charge and $15,000 for molestation.
Motes is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl. One of the teen’s relatives tells Now Habersham they saw explicit texts and pictures he allegedly sent to her. They also say he had sexual contact with the girl.
“She’s scared to death,” says the family member, whose name we’re withholding to protect the victim’s identity. The girl claimed Motes threatened he would have her and her family killed if she told anyone. She wound up telling her mother because he allegedly planned to get her together with some other girls and take nude photos of them.
“She didn’t want done to other girls what he did to her,” the family member tells Now Habersham.
Relatives say the girl now is in hiding. Her family fears possible reprisals. They’re also concerned because they say Motes has strong ties to local law enforcement. “Him being let go is absolutely ridiculous,” they say. “It’s left us distraught and scared for our family.”
On March 10, Motes’ attorney, Hammond Law of Whitmer & Law in Gainesville, released the following statement on behalf of his client to Now Habersham:
“On March 6th the Now Habersham newspaper published an article about the arrest of Tim Motes who was charged with child molestation not sexual battery. The article quoted a family member of the alleged victim expressing dismay about the fact that Mr. Motes bonded out of jail.
Mr. Motes is a 52 year old business man in White County who has never been convicted of a crime, and has never faced allegations of this nature before.
Once he was informed that an investigation was underway, Mr. Motes volunteered to take a lie detector test which was administered by a retired law enforcement official in Gwinnett County, who does a significant amount of polygraph work for local law enforcement agencies. Mr. Motes passed the polygraph and forwarded this information to local law enforcement. At this point, Mr. Motes does not believe that the alleged victim has ever taken a polygraph test.
It is also interesting to note that these allegations surfaced several weeks after Mr. Motes initiated civil litigation against the victim’s family. Mr. Motes strongly proclaims his innocence based on the foregoing. In addition, Mr. Motes has a constitutional right to bond as he is presumed innocent which is substantiated by the lie detector test.”
The arrest and booking report distributed to media by the White County jail does indicate that Motes was charged and bonded on misdemeanor sexual battery.
Motes was in the news back in 2017 after being shot on the job during a reported armed robbery.
Now Habersham reached out to him and the White County Sheriff’s Office for comment. They were not immediately available.
