Text messaging arrest in northeast Alabama

A man has been arrested in a text messaging case happening in northeast Alabama.

Sheriff Jimmy Harris of Dekalb County says the case began in August of 2008, when School Resource Officer Deputy Paul Bell received notice from a school official that a 15-year-old female student had been receiving sexually explicit text messages.

The girl was reportedly texting in class when her phone was confiscated by a teacher.

The phone was turned over to an assistant principal and later to the Sheriff’s Department.

After a 9-month investigation into the matter (during which time phone records were subpoenaed and thoroughly examined), it was discovered that the girl had received over 1,600 text messages during a 30-day period from Garry Don Galloway, 40, of Rainsville.

Galloway was reportedly a friend of the girl’s family.

27 warrants for Harassing Communications and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor were obtained, and Galloway was arrested on Wednesday June 24, 2009.

He was released on June 25, 2009, after posting $15,000 bond.