Former officer indicted for child molestation

Following two arrests for child molestation, which occurred within days of each other in different counties, former Police officer Matthew Darren Atkins, 55, was indicted in Cobb County Superior Court on three counts of child molestation.

The first arrest warrant in Cobb alleges that in February and March Atkins touched a 7-year-old girl in Cobb County inappropriately on several occasions and forced her to touch him. He also allegedly masturbated in front of the child. He was arrested in March on three counts of child molestation and one count of violating the oath of a public officer. Atkins spent two weeks in the Cobb County jail before being granted a $75,000 bond.

A short time later, Atkins was arrested a second time, by Carroll County officials, and charged with similar crimes. A victim saw news of his first arrest and came forward to officials to say she was molested by Atkins as well years ago. Atkins was booked again, this time into the Carroll County Jail on March 30, according to a representative for the Carroll sheriff’s office. He was held there until April 19 when he was released, once again, on $75,000 bond.

Atkins had worked in several metro police departments prior to his last role with the Austell Police Department, where he served for about five years and had achieved the rank of sergeant, before being fired. He had been with the Austell department since February 2017. Prior to Austell, Atkins worked for the police departments in both Powder Springs and Douglasville, according to POST records.

Atkins is no stranger to operating on the wrong side of the law. In 2014, he was allowed to resign from his Douglasville police sergeant position “in lieu of termination” after being accused of using his work computer to purchase illegal steroids. During that time, POST placed him on probation and ordered him to undergo random drug screening tests.

A common concern in our communities is the ability of law enforcement officers to obtain new positions in different communities after being accused of wrongdoing in another. In this case, did Austell Police know of Atkins’ past prior to hiring him?

Given his position with these various police departments, the community hopes that each police department will do their own investigation to ensure that there are no other impacted children or alleged victims in these communities.