23-year-old mayor booted from office after sexting with high school student, alleged misuse of city funds



A mayor barely old enough to buy his own beer has been removed from office after just 10 months following a string of scandals.

Jayden Williams was just 22 years old when he became mayor of Stockbridge, Georgia, back in January, reportedly making him the youngest mayor in Georgia history.

'You knew he was 18, you knew he was in high school, you'd offered to be his mentor, and you'd floated the possibility of hiring him for a job.'

But his term did not last long.

On Saturday, the Stockbridge City Council held a 10-hour hearing about Williams' alleged misconduct. By Sunday, the city announced that he had been "removed from office."

His ouster likely came as no surprise. Back in July, the city council voted to suspend his access to city-owned credit cards, vehicles, and nonpublic buildings as well as to restrict his coordination of city communications, "pending the outcome of an independent investigation previously authorized by the Council."

That investigation involved allegations that Williams had misused city funds, damaged a city vehicle, and exchanged explicit messages and nude photos with a high school student.

He has not been charged with any crime.

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Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Williams, now 23, claimed he accidentally used a city credit card for making a personal purchase because the two cards looked similar. "It's also a purple card," he said.

Williams claimed he reimbursed the city when appropriate, Atlanta News First reported.

Williams also engaged in explicit text messages with a male high school student he had met on Instagram, according to an attorney at the hearing. Williams confirmed during his testimony that he knew the student was 18 years old at the time.

Screenshots of conversations between the young man and Williams were shared during the hearing. According to those screenshots:

  • The student pledged to be Williams' "mentee as well as friend with benefits," to which Williams replied: "We can possibly become something more over time ... for now you can just be my lil short king."
  • The student told Williams, "U had turned me overly On," and after some back and forth, Williams said, "THIS BETTER STAY BETWEEN US TOO [sic]."
  • Williams told the young man, "I want you boy."
  • Williams once joked, "I am The mayor but you didn't care bout that last night lol."

The two also exchanged videos and photos on Instagram. In the early morning hours of December 1, the student said in reply to a video sent by Williams, "Uu was rii[.] I prob can't handle all dat," with two weary or frustrated emojis.

A short time later, the young man then tells Williams, "Yo p***y lookin good asf."

The attorney then summarized the problem with these conversations:

At the point he's sending you a nude that afternoon and you're ... sending him sweat emojis and telling him you loved getting that nude picture, you knew he was 18, you knew he was in high school, you'd offered to be his mentor, and you'd floated the possibility of hiring him for a job.

Williams replied, "Correct."

Williams claimed he never had "intercourse" with the young man, just one kiss, and that their "sexual" relationship was "sexual as in text-messages sexual, not physical sexual."

Ultimately, Williams' denials and attempts at nuance did not work. The city council voted 3-0 to remove him from office with one council member not voting and one council member excluded from voting.

Robert Kenner, Williams' attorney, called the process a "witch hunt" and claimed everyone had already prejudged the case before it started. "I don’t think that it was based on the evidence at all," Kenner said.

Elton Alexander, who is now serving as mayor pro tem, described removing Williams from office as a "tough decision" that brought "a fair and equitable close to multiple troubling accusations that were investigated and verified" by an independent investigator.

Williams did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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CALIFORNIA IDLE: Iconic reality show ditches Hollywood after 24 seasons



After nearly a quarter-century, one of the world's most successful reality franchises is leaving Los Angeles.

It's the series that introduced America to Kelly Clarkson, helped turn Simon Cowell into an international celebrity, launched Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson, and made Randy Jackson a household meme.

'Every major production category in LA is going under water.'

It premiered when George W. Bush was president and survived a cancellation, a network change, countless judging-panel shake-ups, and the end of the monoculture that made it a phenomenon in the first place.

But apparently it couldn't survive California.

No golden ticket

"American Idol" will move production to the Atlanta area for its 25th season, ending a left-coast run that dates back to its 2002 debut, according to Deadline.

And the reason for the move makes the timing particularly awkward for the Golden State.

California has been desperately trying to stop film and television productions from fleeing to states such as Georgia and New Jersey. Last year, lawmakers dramatically expanded the state's film and television tax-credit program and, for the first time, opened it to a new category: large-scale competition shows.

You'd think “American Idol” might qualify; it didn't.

Under California's expanded incentive program, a “large-scale competition show” can qualify for tax credits if contestants compete over multiple episodes for money or another prize, with winners selected by judges, an audience, or another competitive mechanism.

That certainly sounds like “American Idol.” But California's rules also exclude “traditional reality, game shows, talk shows, or docufollow television programming” from the new category, and Deadline reports that “Idol” did not qualify for the state's credit.

Georgia presents a considerably more attractive proposition. The state offers qualifying film and television productions that spend at least $500,000 in Georgia a 20% base tax credit, with another 10% available under certain conditions. Unscripted and reality productions can qualify.

For a sprawling production such as “American Idol,” that's real money.

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Eric McCandless/Disney/Getty Images

'Masked' mandate

And “Idol” isn't the only reality show California has lost.

“The Masked Singer,” another long-running competition series, announced earlier this year that it would move production from Los Angeles to New Jersey for its 15th season.

New Jersey offers a tax credit of up to 30% for qualifying television productions, including unscripted shows.

California, in other words, is now competing not merely with Georgia — which has spent years building itself into a major production center — but with states across the country willing to make Hollywood productions a better offer.

The departures come at a particularly bad time for Los Angeles.

A July report from FilmLA, the nonprofit organization that handles film permitting for Los Angeles and several surrounding jurisdictions, found that permitted on-location production fell another 12.7% during the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same period last year.

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Kevin Winter/ImageDirect/FOX/Getty Images

Out of tune

Compared with the five-year average, the numbers are uglier still.

Feature-film shoot days were down roughly 40%. Commercial production was down about 46%, while television overall was down nearly 49%.

Reality television — the category that includes shows such as “American Idol” — was down nearly 63% from its five-year average.

TV drama was down 16%, while TV comedy was down roughly 67%.

And those weren't merely unfavorable comparisons against the five-year average. Each of those major categories also declined compared with the second quarter of 2025.

There were a couple of bright spots. TV pilot activity was up 40% against its five-year average, while FilmLA's catchall “Other” category increased 10% year-over-year.

But overall permitted on-location production was down 35.9% from the five-year average.

Those numbers don't capture every movie or television show being made in California. FilmLA measures permitted on-location filming in the jurisdictions it serves, meaning soundstage production and filming elsewhere in the state aren't necessarily included.

Still, California itself plainly recognizes the larger problem.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) signed a major expansion of the state's Film and Television Tax Credit Program last year, increasing the amount available annually and widening the range of productions eligible for incentives. The state says the expanded program is already attracting billions of dollars in projected economic activity.

The effort may yet help reverse California's production decline. But when it came to keeping “American Idol” in Hollywood?

That's gonna be a no from them, dawg.

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Florida man allegedly challenges cop to fight inside hospital. Bloody mug shot tells the rest of the story.



A newly released mug shot reveals the bloodied face of a Florida man who allegedly challenged a police officer to a fight inside a hospital.

Ronald Jeffery Johnson, a 51-year-old man from Fort Lauderdale, reportedly was involved in an incident at the Broward Health Medical Center on Aug. 29.

'I physically subdued his intentional, aggressive, and violent behavior towards me, and he was taken into custody.'

According to the arrest report obtained by the New York Post, Johnson allegedly was yelling at medical staff in the emergency department when an off-duty police officer in full uniform was notified of the alleged disturbance.

"I observed the defendant yelling at medical staff from the opposite side of the registration desk, causing a breach of peace in the waiting room and creating fear in the surrounding patients," the officer wrote in the arrest report.

Once Johnson saw the cop, he allegedly confronted the officer.

"I want to fight you," Johnson reportedly yelled to the cop before charging toward the officer.

"A physical altercation between me and the defendant ensued, where he initially grabbed me in an attempt to fight me and resisted me from controlling him," the arrest report stated.

WPLG-TV reported that police said Johnson grabbed the officer and resisted efforts to restrain him.

The officer wrote in the report, "I physically subdued his intentional, aggressive, and violent behavior towards me, and he was taken into custody."

The arrest report said the officer suffered a cut on his left hand during the alleged confrontation that required multiple stitches.

After receiving medical treatment at the hospital, Johnson was arrested and transported to the Broward Sheriff's Office Main Jail.

According to jail records, Johnson was charged with aggravated battery on an officer, resisting an officer with violence, assault on an officer, and disorderly conduct.

Records show Johnson was being detained on an $8,500 bond.

Johnson garnered notoriety online for his mug shot, which showed him propped up; his face was severely swollen and bloodied, and he had a black eye.

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(WARNING: Graphic image)

Image source: Broward County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office

WPLG reported that Johnson was wanted in Georgia in connection with a terroristic threats case.

Johnson reportedly was arrested in 2023 on a terroristic threats charge after he allegedly threatened to attack an individual with a boat paddle at a park in Cave Spring, Georgia.

The threat allegedly occurred in front of the victim's 8-year-old child, which led to a cruelty to children charge.

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Video: Creep chases child at gas station, then mom threatens thug with the only weapon she has



Surveillance video from a Georgia gas station captured a scary scene late last month — a male chasing a child around a car while the child's mother was pumping gas.

It all played out after midnight at a Shell station on Delk Road in Marietta, WSB-TV reported.

'The million-dollar question everyone watching is going to ask: Why did this happen? Why did this occur? And we don’t know those answers.'

Video shows a shoeless, shirtless male approaching the car, the station said. While he eventually walks away, the male returns to the car, WSB said.

The male this time walks closer to the mother but notices a child jumping to the driver's seat and exiting the car, the station said.

The video then shows the male chasing the child.

At one point, the male is seen opening the car's back door where the mother's other child was seated, WSB said.

The mother then holds up the gas pump nozzle and gestures toward the male as he backs away, which gives her child time to get back into the car, the station said, adding that two witnesses appear in the frame and help.

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“The actions of the mother and everyone on the scene, their ability to remain calm under pressure and ... get him away from the children, get a hold of us so that we can get to the area allowed us to hold this individual accountable,” Public Information Officer Charles McPhilamy of the Marietta Police Department told WSB.

The suspect, Jerahn Tucker, was arrested on three charges, including attempted kidnapping, the station said.

Police told the station they found a THC vape in Tucker's car when they caught up to him.

The gas station manager added to WSB that he’s kicked Tucker off the property multiple times.

“The million-dollar question everyone watching is going to ask: Why did this happen? Why did this occur? And we don’t know those answers,” McPhilamy added to the station.

Jail records Blaze News reviewed Friday indicate Tucker was still behind bars.

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Jon Ossoff Spends Thousands on ‘Makeup Services’ From Artist Who Worked on Hollywood Blockbusters Like ‘The Notebook’

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Drug suspect's vehicle lands on top of cop's windshield during chase — and wild police video captures how it all went down



Georgia police video captured how a drug suspect's vehicle ended up on top of a cop's windshield during a chase last week.

The Sandy Springs Police Department Street Crimes Unit on Friday assisted the Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Field Office with the apprehension of Jorge Luis Delgado-Bermudez, who was wanted on Fulton County drug charges, including methamphetamine and cocaine offenses, police said.

'Georgia is another breed.'

The suspect also has ties to a larger criminal organization and is facing federal charges, police said.

As officers attempted to safely box in the suspect's vehicle near the 8100 block of Colquitt Road, the suspect's vehicle struck a concrete barrier, which caused its rear end to lift and land on top of a Sandy Springs Police patrol vehicle, police said.

With that, the suspect exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot but was quickly taken into custody without further incident, police said.

No officers or members of the public were injured, police added.

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WAGA-TV reported that officials haven't yet confirmed the name of the larger criminal organization allegedly tied to Delgado-Bermudez.

The station added that authorities haven't released the time the collision took place or where the suspect is being held.

Image source: Sandy Springs (Ga.) Police

More than 500 commenters (and counting) offered their perspectives on the unorthodox arrest under the police department's Facebook post about the incident:

  • "And he STILL tried to run!!!" one commenter noted.
  • "Georgia is another breed," another user declared. "Never run from the cops there; if Sandy Springs doesn't get you, [state police] will total 10 cruisers to catch you."
  • "I got got a feeling [state police] goes through more cruisers than Rosco P. [Coltrane] and Cletus," another commenter said, invoking characters from "The Dukes of Hazzard."
  • "Is it me, or did the crunching of cars and glass sound just like 'We Will Rock You?'" a Queen fan wondered.
  • "Almost hit the goose," another commenter observed.
  • "'You got the wrong one' as he's actively running," another user said.
  • "Hey insurance, a car just flew into my windshield," another commenter quipped.
  • "Hey sarge, so what had happened was ..." another user joked.
  • "The new and improved Pit Maneuver!!!" another commenter exclaimed.
  • "I don't think he's going anywhere now," another user said.
  • "Yeah, dispatch, I just pulled under the vehicle!" another commenter wrote.
  • "Dude, that's not a parking spot," another user joked.

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