SYLVANIA - A Statesboro man was arrested this week after a mother reported to the Screven County Sheriff's Department that her 7-year-old daughter was victimized in an incident of child molestation.
      Twenty-six-year-old Marquis Denzel Johnson, of 208 Park Plaza in Statesboro, is half brother to the mother's half sister but has no blood relation to the victim, Screven Inv. Bill Crockett said.
      The mother was made aware of the incident only after the news made its way through a series of children, he said. The victim told her 5-year-old cousin, who then passed the news to a 15-year-old sibling, who let adults know about the incident.
      Crockett said that Johnson's arrest was based on an interview with the child, conducted by the Sunshine House, an organization that specializes in helping victims of child abuse and handles all interviews of children in these cases. Johnson confessed nothing, Crockett said.
      Crockett said Johnson was released on parole on May 13 from his most recent incarceration at Coffee Correctional Facility in Nicholls, Ga., after a burglary conviction, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections website.
      His current charges include child molestation and parole violation, Crockett said.
      After Johnson had been in the Screven Co. jail for several days, a routine jail check was conducted, in which a cell phone was found in his possession, Crockett said.
      Johnson was then charged with an additional count, generally known as crossing the guard line with possession of an unauthorized object. Crockett said the crime is considered a felony.