Smyth County School Board Members Call on Colleague to Resign After Child Sexual Exploitation Allegation

The five other members of the Smyth County School Board are asking Todd Stewart Williams to resign as he faces federal charges of sexual exploitation following an FBI investigation that accuses him of spending more than $10,000 to purchase nude photos of at least six minors he met online.

“As members of the Smyth County School Board and as citizens of Smyth County, we were shocked and outraged to learn on Friday of the allegations of private, internet-based criminal activity against elected school board member Todd Williams,” the board said in a statement released Monday evening by school superintendent Dennis Carter.

“While the School Board recognizes the presumption of innocence in criminal prosecutions under our legal system, the alleged conduct makes it impossible and inappropriate for Mr. Williams to maintain the position of trust he holds as an elected member of the School Board.”

Todd Stewart Williams. Courtesy of Southwest Virginia Regional Jail.

The statement goes on to say that the board has no legal authority to remove an elected board member, but the remaining members are calling on Williams to “do the right thing for our community and our school division and immediately resign from the Smyth County School Board.”

In Virginia, an elected official can be impeached in a circuit court only for “neglect of a manifest, ministerial duty of the office, abuse of office, or incompetence in the discharge of the duties of the office,” as well as for conviction of certain crimes, such as hate crimes or sexual assault. The petition for impeachment must contain the signatures of registered voters in the district equal to 10% of the votes cast for that office in the last election.

Williams, 53, of Chilhowie, is vice-chair of the seven-member council, which currently has a vacant seat. His four-year term ends in December 2027.

He remained in custody Monday at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon pending a preliminary hearing Thursday in federal court in Abingdon.

The charges against him were announced Friday in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia. He is accused of enticing young boys to send him nude photos and sexually explicit videos of themselves and others between May 2022 and January 2024.

The criminal complaint charges Williams with one count of child sexual exploitation. The federal government has 30 days to charge him with that count or counts or have the charges dropped, said Brian McGinn, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The school board statement was signed by President Susan Williams, who is not related to Todd Williams; Charles “Mac” Buchanan Jr.; Paul Grinstead; Willam “Gwyn” Combs; and Joseph Johnson.