Lavonia, Hart County, Georgia (May 18, 2026) - The GBI has arrested and charged Guiseppe Tanasie, age 20, and Francisca Istraila, age 23, both of Stonecrest, DeKalb County, Georgia, with Sexual Exploitation of Children.

This investigation began when the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes (CEACC) Unit received a Cyber Tipline Report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) regarding the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material using the internet. The investigation revealed that Tanasie and Istraila were traveling from their home in DeKalb County to a destination in Virginia. With the assistance of the Hart County Sheriff’s Office, Tanasie and Istraila were located on Friday, May 15, 2026, traveling on Interstate I-85 northbound in Hart County, GA, just before crossing the state line into South Carolina.

Tanasie and Istraila were arrested and booked into the Hart County jail.

This investigation is part of the ongoing effort by the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, housed within the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, to identify those involved in the trade of child sexual abuse material. The ICAC Program, created by the U.S. Department of Justice, was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the internet, the proliferation of child sexual abuse material, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.

Anyone with information about other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation CEACC Unit at 404-270-8870 or submit a tip via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline at Cybertipline.org. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.