Lawmakers in an Atlanta suburb removed the city’s young mayor, accusing him of misusing a municipal credit card and engaging in inappropriate, sexually explicit communications with a teenager, officials said Sunday.The City Council of Stockbridge, Georgia, voted 3-0 to remove Jayden Williams, 23, from office about 10 months after his election to lead the city of nearly 30,000 people that’s about 20 miles southeast of Atlanta.“The City of Stockbridge confirms that the City Council has taken formal action concerning the Office of Mayor following proceedings conducted pursuant to applicable City processes,” according to a city statement on Sunday.“As a result of that action, the Mayor has been removed from office.”The city hired a law firm to investigate allegations against the youngest mayor in Stockbridge history.The probe found that, late last year, Williams flirted with and exchanged explicit images of himself with a high school student, who had just turned 18.The two had been chatting electronically, via text and Instagram instant messages, about the student joining Williams’ mentorship program.When presented with text messages and evidence of these photos, Williams confirmed he had exchanged nude pictures.Williams had earlier told a local reporter that he didn’t remember whether he had ever exchanged illicit images with this young man.“Is getting nude photographs via text message so unremarkable to you that you don’t remember when you get them?” lawyer Robbie Ashe, representing investigators, asked then-Mayor Williams during a marathon council meeting on Saturday.
Williams insisted that sharing such material is commonplace for younger Americans.“It’s not memorable nor is it abnormal for somebody my age,” he said.“That’s not abnormal for somebody my age.” The city now has six months to schedule a special election for position, according to acting mayor Elton Alexander.“Removing Stockbridge Mayor Jayden Williams from office was...