Chattooga County Man Receives Life Sentence After Conviction For Raping and Molesting Family Member

On February 19, 2026, a Chattooga County jury convicted Ricky Lamar Blackmon of raping and sexually assaulting a minor family member, after a three-day trial before Chief Superior Court Judge Brian House. Blackmon, 46, was convicted on all 7 counts of sexually-based crimes against the child including: Rape, Incest, and Child Molestation.

Evidence presented at trial showed that in February 2020, the child victim disclosed to a friend’s mother that Blackmon had been inappropriately touching her. That individual reported the child’s disclosures to the Department of Family and Children’s Services, who notified local law enforcement.

The child was taken to the Children’s Advocacy Center where the child was interviewed by Forensic Interviewer Janet Burch. During that interview, the child disclosed that Blackmon had taken topless pictures of her and had touched her breast, buttocks, and vagina on multiple occasions, starting when she was 12 years old. After several years of therapy, the child later disclosed that Blackmon had raped her when she was 13 years old.

Wendell Flood of the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case and interviewed Blackmon after the child’s disclosure of abuse. During this interview, Blackmon denied any inappropriate contact with the child or taking inappropriate pictures of the child. However, when detectives requested to search Blackmon’s phone, Blackmon stated he left it at work. Blackmon gave his cell phone to law enforcement officers approximately one month after the interview, but evidence showed that he deleted all the data off the phone three days before turning it over.

Additionally, text messages recovered from the victim’s phone were presented to the jury. In these text messages, the victim confronted Blackmon about the abuse and he never denied the abuse, and in fact, acknowledged it by his responses.

The case was presented to the jury by Assistant District Attorney David Wolfe with the assistance of Victim Witness Advocate Ashley Nicholson, who coordinated and communicated with the witnesses, and provided support to the victim and her family throughout the entire trial. Additionally, Victim Witness Advocate Jordan Thomasson assisted in the preparation of the trial while Chief Investigator Christy Smith of the District Attorney’s office fostered a deep relationship of trust with the victim.

Blackmon was represented by Sutton Connelly of Cook & Connelly in Summerville.

Following the return of a guilty verdict, Chief Judge Brian House immediately sentenced Blackmon to a life sentence with the first 30 years to be served in prison without the possibility of parole.

From Acting District Attorney Deanna Reisman, “The guilty verdict in this case represents justice for a young victim who showed extraordinary courage in coming forward about the abuse she suffered at the hands of someone who was supposed to protect her. Crimes against children are among the most serious offenses we prosecute in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, and we will continue to work tirelessly to hold offenders accountable.”