School board calls for vice chair's resignation following arrest on child exploitation charges (2024)

Jasmine Franks | Smyth County News & Messenger

The Smyth County School Board is calling for Vice Chair Todd Williams’ resignation following his arrest last Friday on federal child exploitation charges.

According to court documents, Williams, who represents the Chilhowie District, gave more than $10,000 to underage boys in exchange for nude photos and explicit videos of themselves and others.

In a statement on Monday, the remaining members of the school board said they were “shocked and outraged” after learning of the allegations against Williams.

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

Williams, who was appointed to the school board in October 2015 to replace the prior representative who stepped down for health reasons, was first elected to the seat in 2017 and was chosen by his peers on the board to serve as its vice chair this January.

Noting that the school board does not have legal authority to remove an elected member, the board’s statement goes on to say, “The remaining members of the School Board call on Mr. Williams to do the right thing for our community and our school division and immediately resign from the Smyth County School Board.”

The FBI investigation began when a 15-year-old Oklahoma boy reported to agents in September 2022 that Williams, 53, requested nude photos and videos of him. The boy told the investigators he met Williams in a Snapchat group for gay teenage boys and Williams offered to make in-app purchases in an online game in exchange for nude photos and videos.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia, Williams sent the teen more than $2,000 for the images and videos between May 1, 2022 and Oct. 1, 2022.

In a criminal complaint filed in the matter, an agent wrote that Williams also sent the teen money to travel to meet Williams and have sex, but to the agent’s knowledge that never occurred.

The court document notes that Williams told the teen he was 37 years old and coached 8th-grade basketball in Chilhowie.

In excerpts of conversations between the two that were included in the criminal complaint, the teen asked Williams, “...since you work at a school have you ever done anything with a student?”

A reply from Williams’ account corrected the teen saying he was only a volunteer coach and didn’t work at the school, but “no never.”

Based on the information obtained from the Oklahoma investigation, the FBI’s Richmond division began an investigation into Williams’ Snapchat activity. That investigation, officials said, uncovered multiple instances of similar exploitation.

According to the release, Williams also used the social media platform to talk to a 12-year-old boy and offered to buy items for an online game before eventually offering to buy nude photos and videos from the boy. Between August 2022 and January 2024, Williams sent the boy nearly $1,000 for the images and videos.

In January 2023, the release states, Williams paid another teen to photograph and video himself sexually abusing his 10-year-old stepbrother. At Williams’ direction, according to the release, the teen approached his stepbrother in their bedroom at night and forced him to watch p*rnography while the teen masturbat*d and took photos.

When that teen reached the $600 monthly limit on Cash App transactions, Williams mailed him a debit card hidden in a pair of shoes, according to the release. In a six-month period, Williams paid the teen more than $3,500.

In another instance, Williams paid a fourth teen more than $3,000 for nude photos and videos of the teen and his underage boyfriend.

In the release, U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh said sexual exploitation and abuse have “grown exponentially through the use of the internet, especially its online gaming platforms.”

“The safety and well-being of children in our communities are top priorities of my office, and we are committed to the joint efforts with our law enforcement partners to relentlessly pursue these perpetrators and ensure they are brought to justice.”

Williams' arrest comes nearly 10 months after that of a Marion Senior High School teacher accused of sending sexually explicit messages on Snapchat to a teenage student.

Jasper Scott Mellinger, 25, was indicted last year on two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and is scheduled for a plea hearing in Smyth County Circuit Court in September.

At the time of his arrest, Mellinger was employed by Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, according to a bail determination checklist.

In October 2017, a volunteer assistant coach for the MSHS volleyball team was convicted of three counts of sexual battery. According to court documents in that case, Logan Charles Armstrong, 22 at the time of the offenses, admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old player earlier that year. According to testimony, Armstrong had coached the teen for several years for both school and travel teams and began chatting with the girl through text messages and Snapchat before he began giving her rides home.

More recently, an MSHS theater teacher came under fire after conversations between him and an 18-year-old former student were posted online. In that conversation, which included photos of the teen taken in class, Todd Necessary told her that he loved her. When asked how he was doing, he said he was drinking new scotch and had bought a new car that had “lots of room for my dogs and humans and you.”

He immediately followed that message up with one that read, “Whoa.....forget that last comment,” and apologized several times.

While the exchange was not criminal, many online deemed it inappropriate and expressed disgust with the fact that only a few months before the conversation took place, the teen was Necessary’s student.

In its release on Williams’ arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s Office encouraged anyone with information or who feels like they may have been a victim in the Williams case to contact the FBI’s Richmond Division.

Williams is scheduled for detention and preliminary examination hearings on Thursday.