STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. — A political fight surrounding Stockbridge’s 22-year-old mayor has intensified after police records revealed sexually suggestive communications between Mayor Jayden Williams and an 18-year-old high school student who told investigators he became acquainted with Williams through a mentorship program.
The police investigation did not identify evidence of criminal conduct, according to records obtained by WSB-TV and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The individual involved was 18 at the time of the communications and therefore legally an adult. Investigators nevertheless concluded that the nature of the messages and the reported mentorship relationship raised ethical and professional concerns.
Williams has denied wrongdoing and is fighting a separate but increasingly intertwined battle with members of the Stockbridge City Council over allegations involving city spending, the use of government property and the council’s authority to restrict his powers or potentially remove him from office.
The dispute has turned what began as an investigation into municipal spending into a high-profile confrontation involving allegations about Williams’ private conduct, accusations of political bias, competing claims of due process violations and court proceedings over how the city may investigate its elected mayor.
Police investigation uncovered messages
According to WSB-TV, the communications involving Williams surfaced through an unrelated February burglary investigation involving the 18-year-old.
Police interviewed the young man at Eagle’s Landing High School. Although he was legally an adult, he was still an 11th-grade student at the time.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for his cellphone and discovered conversations with Williams dating to December 2025. Williams had already won the November mayoral election but had not yet been sworn into office. He took office Jan. 1, 2026.
The police report indicates Williams asked the student about his sexual orientation during the conversations.
In another exchange reported by WSB-TV, Williams remarked that the student had only recently turned 18 and was young for him. He also allegedly indicated that their conversation should remain private.
The student’s response appeared to acknowledge the potential political consequences of public disclosure, telling Williams that revealing their communications could damage Williams’ public image.
Investigators also found messages suggesting tension between the two later that month.
According to the police report, the student warned Williams that he had the ability to cause serious problems for him. Williams allegedly responded that public disclosure would not benefit either of them and could also negatively affect the student’s future.
The report further states that the student expressed interest both in participating in the mentorship program and in having a sexual relationship with Williams.
The 18-year-old also told investigators that he and Williams had exchanged nude photographs, according to WSB-TV and the AJC.
Authorities ultimately did not pursue criminal charges based on the information documented in the report.
Investigators wrote that the messages appeared to establish a personal relationship but did not establish criminal conduct. They nevertheless specifically noted concerns about the nature of the communications in the context of a mentorship relationship.
Williams denies wrongdoing
Williams has maintained that the allegations do not establish misconduct.
“I believe the allegations are simply allegations, and I stand 10 toes down,” Williams told WSB-TV.
His attorney, Robert Kenner, has challenged the suggestion that the communications amount to an ethics violation.
The defense has emphasized two points: The young man was 18, and the communications began before Williams formally took office and, according to his attorney, before an official city mentorship program was established.
Those arguments address whether the communications constituted criminal or official governmental misconduct, but the police report’s ethical concerns center on the relationship between someone acting in a mentoring capacity and an 18-year-old student.
No court or criminal authority has found Williams guilty of a crime connected to the communications.
Allegation emerged during much larger fight
The controversy did not begin with the text messages.
Williams has been locked in a dispute with the Stockbridge City Council since July over allegations involving his use of city money and government resources.
The council launched an independent investigation after questions were raised about purchases and donations involving more than $4,000 in city funds, according to court filings reviewed by the AJC. The investigation also examined Williams’ use of city purchasing cards, fuel cards and a city vehicle.
On July 17, the City Council moved to restrict several of Williams’ privileges while the investigation proceeded.
The restrictions included suspending access to city-issued purchasing and fuel cards, requiring the return of a city vehicle and limiting his access to nonpublic portions of municipal buildings.
Communications between Williams and city employees were also required to go through the city manager.
City leaders said the restrictions were administrative measures designed to protect city operations while the investigation was underway and did not constitute a finding that Williams had committed misconduct.
Williams strongly objected.
He accused city leaders of exceeding their authority and treating him as guilty before completing their investigation.
He subsequently sued the city, arguing that the Stockbridge charter did not permit council members to effectively suspend many of his mayoral functions without first providing him with the hearing and due process required under city law.
Mayor says spending was legitimate
Williams has also publicly disputed the financial allegations.
During a lengthy online town hall in July, Williams provided explanations for several purchases and denied using city resources improperly.
Regarding a city vehicle, Williams said he used it for official city business and that it remained at city facilities when he was not using it.
The City Council’s allegations have included questions surrounding purchasing-card transactions, a fuel card, a city vehicle and money spent at restaurants, stores and on donations.
Williams has maintained that legitimate city purposes existed for disputed transactions and has said he reimbursed the city for any personal expenses that may have been inadvertently charged.
Williams and his allies have also questioned why the investigation has focused primarily on him.
Councilmember Yolanda Barber proposed expanding the review to examine purchasing-card transactions by other city officials dating to 2020. The proposal was defeated.
Williams’ attorney suggested the refusal raised questions about whether the investigation was being conducted fairly.
Mayor Pro Tem Elton Alexander rejected that argument, saying an expanded investigation without specific allegations would amount to a “witch hunt.”
Williams says age and politics are factors
The confrontation is particularly notable because Williams entered office as one of Georgia’s most prominent young elected officials.
Stockbridge voters elected him in November 2025 at age 22.
Williams defeated incumbent Mayor Anthony Ford with approximately 54% of the vote, winning by about 421 votes. His victory made him the youngest mayor in Stockbridge’s history. Williams has also described himself as Georgia’s youngest Black mayor.
Williams had previously served on Stockbridge’s youth council and held student government positions while attending Clark Atlanta University.
He campaigned in part as a generational-change candidate, arguing that Stockbridge residents were ready for new leadership.
Since the investigation began, Williams has repeatedly suggested that generational tensions are partly responsible for the conflict.
“This is a case of young people going into being the next generation of leaders,” Williams said in July. “But the older generation is not willing to give and pass the mantle.”
His attorney has similarly argued that Williams’ youth, popularity and political profile have made him a target.
City officials have rejected suggestions that their investigation is motivated by age or jealousy.
Sexual-misconduct allegation enters City Hall proceedings
The police report involving the 18-year-old became particularly significant after city officials began considering broader allegations of misconduct against Williams.
Councilwoman LaKeshia Gantt testified that city officials learned about the matter during a July executive session after reviewing the police report.
According to WSB-TV, Gantt testified that officials had received information alleging Williams had sexual contact with an 11th-grade male student.
That description became one of the most contentious parts of the dispute because the student, despite being in the 11th grade, was 18 and legally an adult.
Williams’ attorneys have accused Gantt of approaching the allegations with a predetermined view of the mayor.
They pointed to emails, social media activity and private communications that they argue demonstrate bias.
Mayor’s grandmother says councilwoman pushed resignation
The conflict grew more personal during court testimony Aug. 20.
Williams’ grandmother testified that Gantt contacted her in July and warned that embarrassing information involving Williams could become public.
According to the testimony, Gantt allegedly suggested that Williams should resign.
Williams’ grandmother said those conversations occurred before the city had completed its investigation.
A Stockbridge resident also testified that Gantt contacted him after he criticized the council’s treatment of Williams on social media. He claimed Gantt told him city officials possessed damaging information against Williams before the evidence had been publicly released.
Gantt has said her actions were intended in part to keep Williams from being publicly embarrassed.
Williams’ legal team has argued those communications demonstrate that Gantt cannot serve as an impartial participant in proceedings that could determine his political future.
Judge restores some access to City Hall
Williams scored a partial legal victory in August.
Following litigation over the restrictions placed on him, the mayor and city reached an agreement allowing Williams to regain access to nonpublic portions of City Hall, including his mayoral office.
The arrangement did not restore all of his privileges.
Williams remains restricted from using city purchasing cards, fuel cards and city vehicles while the dispute continues.
His underlying argument remains that the council cannot impose restrictions effectively limiting his ability to serve as mayor without following the procedures required by the city’s charter.
The city maintains it has the authority to investigate potential misconduct and has said no final decision has been reached about whether Williams committed wrongdoing.
Hearing that could affect mayor’s future postponed
A major evidentiary hearing had been scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 22.
The proceeding was expected to publicly examine evidence collected during the city’s investigation and could ultimately become part of a process capable of leading to Williams’ removal from office.
Instead, the hearing was postponed just as it was preparing to begin.
Former Fulton County Chief Magistrate Judge Gino Brogdon, who was appointed to oversee the proceedings, agreed that the question of whether Councilwoman Gantt should be disqualified because of alleged bias needed to be addressed first.
A virtual hearing on the recusal question is now scheduled for Aug. 31 at 5 p.m.
The city’s evidentiary hearing has been rescheduled for Sept. 12 at 9 a.m. at Stockbridge City Hall.
That means the case remains unresolved.
No determination has been made that Williams committed the financial or sexual misconduct alleged by city officials.
Two separate questions now surround the case
The controversy presents two substantially different legal and political questions.
The first is whether Williams violated city policies, ethics requirements or other standards governing his use of taxpayer-funded resources.
The second involves his communications with the 18-year-old student.
Police have already addressed the criminal question concerning those communications: Investigators reported finding no evidence establishing a criminal violation.
That conclusion does not necessarily answer the separate ethical question.
Investigators themselves distinguished between criminality and professional judgment, noting concerns about the communications because of the alleged mentorship relationship.
Williams’ attorneys, meanwhile, contend the timing matters because the messages began before he assumed office and before, they say, an official city mentorship initiative existed.
That distinction could become central if city officials attempt to characterize the interaction as misconduct connected to Williams’ public position rather than as private conduct.
A dramatic reversal for a historic young mayor
Less than a year ago, Williams’ election was being celebrated as a generational political upset.
He defeated a two-term incumbent and became mayor while still only 22, after beginning his political involvement years earlier as a high school student on Stockbridge’s youth council.
He told reporters after his victory that residents had taken a chance on a new generation of leadership.
Nine months later, the mayor is simultaneously defending his spending, his personal conduct and his authority to remain fully functioning in the office voters elected him to hold.
For the City Council, the central argument is that allegations involving public money and official conduct must be investigated regardless of who occupies the mayor’s office.
For Williams, the dispute has increasingly become a question of whether an elected mayor can be stripped of significant powers based on allegations before he receives a full hearing.
And surrounding both arguments is the newly public police report — a document that investigators say does not establish criminal conduct but contains communications serious enough for officers themselves to raise ethical concerns.
For now, Williams remains mayor.
The next major decision is expected to concern whether Gantt can participate in proceedings against him. After that, the rescheduled Sept. 12 evidentiary hearing could provide the most detailed public accounting yet of the evidence gathered against Williams — and determine whether a political battle that began over spending will ultimately threaten the tenure of Stockbridge’s youngest-ever mayor.
