Dahlonega man charged with battery, cruelty to children

DAHLONEGA, Ga – Joseph Gooch, 44, of Dahlonega was arrested Thursday, Aug. 2 and charged with four counts of cruelty to children, battery and interference with an emergency call.

According to the arrest report, Lumpkin County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a residence at 197 Long Branch Trail in response to a domestic incident. When they arrived, Melissa Kay Hopkins reported that Gooch, her live-in boyfriend, was yelling at one of her children for allowing Animal Control to come into the house earlier in the day and he then slapped the child in the face.

 

Hopkins said Gooch then began arguing with one of the other children and when she threatened to call police, he grabbed her cell phone, threw it to the ground and broke it. Her children are ages 7, 12 and 13.

One of them ran out of the house, fled to a neighbor’s house and called police as Gooch fled. He was arrested the next day and transported to the Lumpkin County Detention Center.

 

 

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