A man arrested Thursday in Cartersville on child pornography charges had been a police officer in Rockmart, Euharlee, Emerson, White and at Hays State Prison.

James Dustin Barnette, 38, of 51 Highland Drive, Cartersville, was arrested Thursday after an investigation by a Georgia Bureau of Investigation task force, according to John Whitaker, special agent in charge of the High Tech Investigations Unit.

Barnette is charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of children, Whitaker said.

“That is related to three pieces of confirmed child pornography seen on his computer where we know who the victim is,” he said.

Whitaker said the investigation by the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force began with a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

He said all Internet service providers are required by federal law to report incidents of child pornography, predator e-mails and other similar items to the national center. The center then sends out weekly reports to law enforcement agencies all around the country.

This cyber tip came in one of those reports, Whitaker said.