Johnson City TN Man Linked To More Than 50 Sexual Assaults Apprehended In Florida

Image Credit: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation / X

By Anita Wadhwani [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –

Sean Williams, the Johnson City man at the center of allegations that local police failed for years to investigate multiple sexual assault claims against him, was taken into custody in Florida on Wednesday, more than a month after his escape from police custody, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.

Williams was “apprehended without incident after being tracked down by a K9 team” with the Pinellas County Sheriff, TBI said. 

Williams was due for an appearance at the Greenville, Tenn. federal courthouse on October 19, but escaped by kicking the back window out of a transport vehicle, according to court records. U.S. Marshalls’ officials have been investigating the circumstances of his escape.

Williams faced more than two dozen federal charges, including child rape, that stem from his arrest on drug charges in April by Western Carolina University police. A search of his electronics yielded images of more than 50 women being sexually assaulted as well as two young children.

Williams until then had not been charged in connection with any of the sexual assaults multiple Johnson City women reported to local police. A former federal prosecutor who served as a liaison to the Johnson City Police Department filed suit, alleging that police — deliberately or negligently — failed to investigate multiple rape allegations against Williams. A second lawsuit brought by nine of his alleged victims detailed claims that women were dismissed or ignored when they tried to report sexual assault. A tenth woman has since joined the lawsuit.

Williams has not yet been charged in connection to the majority of assaults depicted in images on his confiscated electronics.