Gay Couple Sentenced to 100 Years for Raping Adopted Sons
The Atlanta couple previously pleaded guilty to raping their adopted sons and sharing the abuse in pictures and videos with other adults.
Warning: This article contains explicit details regarding the sexual assault of minors.
William Zulock and Zachary Zulock, a gay couple in Georgia, have been each sentenced to 100 years in prison for sexually abusing their two adopted sons.
William, 34, pleaded guilty on August 20, 2024, to six counts of aggravated sodomy, three counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of incest, and two counts of sexual exploitation of children.
The next day, his husband, Zachary, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sodomy, three counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of sodomy, three counts of sexual exploitation of children, and two counts of pandering to a person under 18.
Zachary pleaded not guilty to two counts of incest but was later found guilty of those charges following a brief bench trial.
The men are not eligible for parole until their 100-year sentences end.
William, a government employee, and Zachary, who works in banking, had adopted the two biological brothers, now aged 12 and 10, from a Christian special needs agency. They were raising them under the guise of being a happy family in Oxford, an affluent suburb in Atlanta.
However, according to prosecutors, the two men would force their adopted sons to have sex with them on a regular basis, filming the encounters and sharing clips with other pedophiles.
As reported by Atlanta-based ABC affiliate WSB-TV, in 2022, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit regarding a “cyber tip” from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding suspected homemade child sexual abuse material.
The material had been uploaded to a Google account with an IP address in Walton County. Investigators tracked down a man, Hunter Lawless, who admitted to downloading child pornography.
During the course of that investigation, Lawless told deputies that another online user, Zach Zulock, was making child pornography with a child living in their home. Lawless later pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children and was sentenced to 20 years, eligible for parole after 12, in exchange for cooperating with any prosecution of the Zulocks.
Based on Lawless’ tip, investigators obtained a search warrant for the Zulock residence and worked with the Georgia Division of Family and Child Services to remove the boys from the couple’s custody.
On July 22, 2022, they interviewed the Zulocks, who both admitted to sexually abusing their adopted sons and recording the acts on film.
Investigators recovered electronic evidence from the home, including surveillance cameras with footage from inside the house, showing multiple incidents in which the Zulocks would abuse their children. Other evidence included cell phones containing graphic images, videos, text messages, and social media messages.
Police discovered evidence that the couple bragged about the abuse, with one source telling investigators that Zachary Zulock once sent a Snapchat message reading, “I’m going to fuck my son tonight. Stand by,” along with images of the boy being molested.
Prosecutors also allege that the Zulocks used social media to pimp the boys out to at least two men in a local pedophile sex ring, as reported by The New York Post.
Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney Randy McGinley praised the “resolve” and “strength” of the two boys, who were in third and fourth grade at the time of the Zulocks’ arrest, for surviving the abuse.
He said the length of the Zulocks’ sentences will help the youths heal from the trauma they experienced, ensuring that they “will not have to worry as they grow older about their abusers being free.”
“Those involved with the investigation and prosecution of this case will never forget what they had to see and hear in this case,” McGinley said in a 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.
“It cannot be stressed enough how important it is for our society to have individuals willing to adopt children in need,” McGinley concluded. “But 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.”
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