SUPERIOR COURT
A sex offender is going to the state probation detention center for using the internet, which is a violation of his probation.
After listening to the evidence presented at a Sept. 7 probation hearing, Superior Court Judge Stephen Bradley actually gave defendant Matthew Donald Shields the choice of revoking his sentence to prison or serving 180 days in a detention center.
Shields chose the detention center.
The 180 days at the PDC is on top of the more than 300 days Shields has spent at the Jones County Law Enforcement Center since his Nov. 9, 2022, arrest. The end date of Shields’ probation is Oct. 21, 2024.
Shields was represented in the hearing by defense attorney Sara Roberts, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore.
The state’s witness in the hearing was Shields’ community supervision officer who testified that the probationer admitted to using the internet, which was a violation of his sex offender conditions.
Shields took the witness stand in his own defense and testified that he used the internet to comply with a requirement of sending written notice to schools and churches after he moved to a new address.
The defendant said his probation officer instructed him the letter could not be handwritten and he purchased a computer to type and print it. In the process of activating windows on the computer, he said he had to connect to the internet.
Shields said after he completed the letter, he returned the computer.
“I’m in jail because I was honest. I could have lied,” he said.
In her closing arguments, Roberts said her client had not been revoked since 2016. She said he tried his best to do what he was asked.
“He self-reported. If he hadn’t done that, I don’t think he would have been found out,” the attorney said.
Fiore said Shield was revoked in 2009 and 2016 for internet violations. She said the reason he had not been revoked since 2016 was he was in prison until Aug. 21, 2021.
“This is the fourth time he’s been in trouble for accessing the internet,” she stated. “He knew he wasn’t allowed.”
Bradley said he found that Shields had violated his probation.
“It may not be the most egregious violation, but his history shows he is not good at probation,” the judge said.
Bradley further ordered that Shields remains in jail until there is a bed at the detention center, and on his release from the center, he is to return to active probation supervision.
Background
Shields was arrested Sept. 9, 2003, and charged with child molestation and entered a guilty plea to the charges of enticing a child for indecent purposes and incest in November of 2004. He had no previous criminal history and entered the plea under the first offender act.
He was back in court April 16, 2009, for a probation violation of attempting to foil a polygraph test. That issue, in addition to a previous violation, resulted in the removal of his first offender status. He was resentenced by Chief Superior Court Judge William Prior to 20 years with four years to serve in prison.
According to records from the Georgia Department of Corrections Shields, entered prison Aug. 11, 2009, and was released April 10, 2013. He had another violation in 2016 and went back to prison for another four years from Sept. 27, 2016, to Aug. 31, 2021.
