Lafayette County man faces child sex crime charges after investigation
Jarvis Petty, 31, was jailed on eight child-sex charges after deputies said a child disclosed an assault and a search warrant turned up evidence.
A Lafayette County man remained in the Lafayette County Detention Center on a $1 million bond after deputies arrested him on eight child sex crime charges tied to an investigation that started when a child said they had been sexually assaulted.
Authorities identified the suspect as Jarvis Petty, 31, of Lafayette County, Mississippi. The charges include two counts of sexual battery of a child, production of child pornography, possession of child pornography, grooming, molesting-touching of a child for lustful purposes, enticement of a child to produce a visual depiction of sexual conduct, and enticement of a child to meet for sexual purposes.
Investigators said the case began with a report received May 31, 2026, from an adult who said a child had disclosed being sexually assaulted. Deputies then executed a search warrant with help from the Oxford Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Unit, and they said evidence found during that search led to additional child exploitation charges. Petty was arrested June 1, 2026, and appeared before a judge June 2, when bond was set at $1 million.
The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Joey East, handles county law enforcement and jail operations in Oxford, the county seat. Lafayette County had a population of 55,813 in the 2020 census, and Oxford’s estimated population reached 26,773 in 2025, a reminder that child-protection cases in the county can affect a large and growing community.
The case also comes after Mississippi enacted a grooming-of-a-child statute in July 2025, part of a broader effort to strengthen penalties in child exploitation cases. For Lafayette County families, the arrest underscores the value of reporting disclosures involving children quickly and allowing investigators to gather evidence through coordinated work between county deputies and Oxford police.
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