A Georgia couple that pleaded guilty in August to sexually abusing their two adopted sons will now spend 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office.
William Zulock pleaded guilty to six counts of aggravated sodomy, three counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of incest and two counts of sexual exploitation of children. His husband, Zachary Zulock, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sodomy, three counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of incest, two counts of sodomy, three counts of sexual exploitation of children and two counts of pandering to a person under 18.
"Those involved with the investigation and prosecution of this case will never forget what they had to see and hear in this case," District Attorney Randy McGinley said in a Monday statement. "These two Defendants truly created a house of horrors and put their extremely dark desires above everything and everyone else. However, the depth of the Defendants’ depravity, which is as deep as it gets, is not greater than the resolve of those [who] fought for justice and the strength of the victims in this case."
McGinley said the "resolve" of the two young victims, who were in third and fourth grade at the time of the Zulocks' arrest, "over the last two years is truly inspiring."
The Zulocks initially came under investigation after Georgia authorities received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reporting suspected homemade child sexual abuse material (CSAM) uploaded to a Google account with an IP address in Walton County. Upon further investigation, deputies with the Walton County Sheriff's Office learned that the Zulocks lived with the victims who appeared in the CSAM.
Authorities interviewed the Zulocks on July 22, 2022, and they both admitted to sexually abusing their adopted sons over a period of time, according to the DA's office.
Investigators later collected electronic evidence including surveillance cameras from inside the house showing multiple instances of the defendants "committing sexual abuse in different parts of the house," the DA's office said in a Monday press release. Other electronic evidence included cell phones containing graphic images, videos, text messages and social media messages.
"I am grateful for the hard work of so many to obtain an appropriate outcome in this case," McGinley said. "The hard work of law enforcement put an end to the abuse suffered by the victims and this resolution will help the victims continue their process of healing. William and Zachary Zulock will now spend 100 years in prison without parole. This all but guarantees that the victims will not have to worry as they grow older about their abusers being free."
McGinley further stressed the importance of adopting children in need but added that "anyone who does so and then abuses those children deserves extremely harsh consequences and decades in prison."
"The sentence imposed not only appropriately punishes these Defendants for their repeated selfish actions but also sends the message to the public that such actions will never be taken lightly," McGinley said in his statement.
Two other men, Hunter Clay Lawless and Luis Armando Vizcarro-Sanchez, were prosecuted and sentenced to prison after agreeing to testify against the Zulocks. Lawless admitted to receiving CSAM from Zachary Zulock and pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children. Vizcarro-Sanchez pleaded guilty to pandering to a person under 18 and computer theft.