Gov. Candidate Who Protested Outside Woodstock School Indicted

Kristal Dixon
State Sen. Michael Williams, a Republican who ran to become Georgia's next governor, was indicted on charges of fraud and lying to the GBI.

HALL COUNTY, GA — A Georgia State Senator who ran for governor and staged a protest last year outside a Cherokee County high school has been indicted on charges that he lied about a burglary at his business.

A Hall County grand jury on Tuesday indicted Michael Edwards Williams, of Forsyth County, on one count each of insurance fraud, making a false statement and false report of a crime, court records show. Cherokee County residents became familiar with Williams when he and dozens of his followers protested outside Woodstock's River Ridge High School in September 2017, calling for the Cherokee County School District to fire a teacher accused of suppressing the constitutional rights of pro-Donald Trump students.

Williams, a Republican candidate for governor who finished in last place in the May 22 primary, also gained state and national notoriety with his infamous Deportation Bus that branded immigrants as rapists and murderers. Williams, the former co-chair of the Trump campaign in Georgia, launched the tour weeks before the Republican primary, and took the bus on the road to Clarkston, Decatur and Athens — the state's three so-called "sanctuary cities."

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According to the indictment, Williams allegedly committed insurance fraud when he claimed computer servers were stolen from his business in his filing to receive a claim from The Hartford insurance company. He also made a false report of burglary and theft around May 9 to the Hall County Sheriff's Office when he told the agency about the alleged crime.

Finally, Williams is accused of lying to an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation when he said he was not in the Gainesville area around the time of the purported burglary.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Williams alleged the servers had been stolen from his office to make cryptocurrency. Hall County District Attorney Lee Darraugh told Patch his office is working with Williams' defense attorney to establish a time and place for the politician to turn himself in to authorities.

Williams is in the final days of his tenure representing Senate District 27, a seat he's held since 2014.

This is a developing story, so return to Patch for updates.

Photo courtesy Michael Williams for Governor