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Beeson
A former Hart County doctor was found guilty last week of six charges related to child molestation.
In a Hart County Superior Court jury trial on Dec. 17, Tommy Charles Beeson, 74, of Hartwell, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of child molestation and two counts of sexual battery against a child under 16.
Beeson was taken into custody, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in January, according to Parks White, Northern Judicial Circuit Defense Attorney. He faces a mandatory minimum term of 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Hartwell Sun originally reported that an investigation was launched after Hart County Sheriff’s deputies met with Joseph Donald Beeson, Tommy Beeson’s son, on March 28, 2018 regarding a report of a child molestation incident involving his three juvenile children, in which Tommy Beeson was listed as the suspect, according to the incident report. Earlier that same night, Joseph Beeson’s mother, Gloria, went to the Hart County Sheriff’s Office and reported her husband as missing.
Tommy Beeson was later found in Arizona, where he turned himself into authorities.
“Some of the evidence that weighed very strongly against Dr. Beeson included the fact that he fled the state as soon he was confronted with the allegations. He was later taken into custody in Arizona,” White said.
White credited Georgia Bureau of Investigations special agent Ashleigh Isaacson for a “great job investigating” the case and recognized members of the prosecution for “successfully convincing a Hart County jury of the guilt of Dr. Thomas Beeson.”
“The jury took their job seriously, they considered each count separately, they asked to review the forensic interviews on multiple different occasions and they returned a very important verdict,” White said.
Beeson is a retired Hart County physician.