Cops refused to investigate ‘serial rapist,’ suit says. Now, TN city to pay $28 million
In a unanimous decision, local officials settled a federal lawsuit accusing an eastern Tennessee city’s police department of allowing a “serial rapist” to remain at large.
Johnson City police officers were accused of “turning a blind eye” to businessman Sean Williams drugging and raping women and sexually exploiting children in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.
According to the lawsuit, officers took cash bribes from Williams and refused to investigate repeated reports about sexual crimes occurring at his Johnson City apartment between 2019 and 2022.
“(Johnson City Police Department) officers knowingly participated in a sex trafficking venture…by benefiting financially from the venture,” reads an amended class-action complaint filed on behalf of women who survived the alleged abuse.
Johnson City, which denies the allegations against the police officers, agreed to a $28 million settlement to resolve the lawsuit, one of three filed within the past few years in connection with Williams, according to The Tennessean.
The city’s board of commissioners voted on the settlement Feb. 13, according to a statement provided to McClatchy News by Johnson City public information officer Shira Evans.
“Based on the potential class action, and the number of horrific crimes committed by Sean Williams, Johnson City was faced with substantial financial risk if this matter proceeded to trial,” the statement said.
In November, Williams was convicted in connection with sexually assaulting multiple women and producing child pornography of their children when they were unconscious at his apartment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
A federal jury found him guilty of three counts of child pornography, federal prosecutors said.
His conviction came a year after the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced his capture as a fugitive in Pinellas County, Florida, on Nov. 21, 2023. He was apprehended on Florida’s west coast after prosecutors said he fled federal custody and spent weeks on the run.
Williams is scheduled to be sentenced in the criminal case on Feb. 24, court records show.
His defense attorney, Mark E. Brown, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Feb. 18.
Now that the class-action lawsuit is settled, Johnson City said the plaintiffs’ attorneys will dismiss the accusations against city police officers.
“Johnson City does not blame these victims whatsoever,” Commissioner Jenny Brock told the Associated Press. “It was Sean Williams that is to blame for all of this.”
Vanessa Baehr-Jones, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement she shared with McClatchy News on Feb. 18 that the settlement brings some closure to her clients, who “can now begin the process of healing.”
“Our case was the first, and so far the only, to allege a police department violated the federal sex trafficking law,” Baehr-Jones, who prosecuted child sex crimes as a former assistant U.S. attorney, said.
Lawsuit details sex trafficking conspiracy
According to the lawsuit, Williams operated a sex trafficking enterprise through three “primary means and methods.”
One method involved providing drugs, cash and free housing to coconspirators, whom the lawsuit accused of helping Williams prey on victims, according to the complaint.
As another tactic, Williams used drugs to “addict and control women” accused of finding other women for him to sexually abuse, the complaint says.
To “gain access” to women and their children, Williams offered the women money, free housing or job opportunities, according to the complaint.
In October 2020, the complaint says Williams offered one woman cash in exchange for cleaning his apartment.
After she accepted the offer, Williams eventually asked her to run errands and “hang out” at his apartment, according to the complaint, which says he told her “she was ‘too pretty’ to just clean for him.”
He paid her more cash and supplied her with drugs and alcohol, the complaint says.
Ultimately, Williams drugged and sexually assaulted the woman multiple times, according to the complaint. He filmed the assaults, the complaint says.
On one occasion in December 2020, Williams sexually exploited the woman’s infant when she visited his apartment, according to the complaint.
The complaint says he took “photographs of himself engaged in a sex act” with the child.
‘Multi-state manhunt’ for Williams ends in Florida
Williams evaded law enforcement for nearly two years until April 2023, when he was located and arrested in Cullowhee, North Carolina, located about a 110-mile drive southwest from Johnson City, the Tennessean reported.
Police said he was caught with drugs, $100,000 in cash and thumb drives with more than 5,000 images of child porn, as well as footage of him sexually assaulting unconscious women, according to the newspaper.
Williams escaped a transport van while on the way to the federal courthouse in Greeneville, Tennessee, in October 2023 — leading to a “multi-state manhunt,” according to federal prosecutors.
The search ended in Pinellas County, Florida, a month later, prosecutors said.
Officers refute accusations
The class-action lawsuit individually named multiple officers accused of enabling Williams’ sex trafficking conspiracy.
The complaint says Johnson City police tried to obstruct a federal sex trafficking investigation into Williams that was launched by the Justice Department in November 2022.
The Justice Department hasn’t publicly confirmed whether this investigation is underway, the Tennessee Lookout reported.
In a joint statement to the outlet, officers called the lawsuit’s accusations “heinous” and “false.”
“We want to be absolutely clear, no officers ever engaged in any corrupt conduct of any kind, whatsoever,” the statement said.
Baehr-Jones said in her statement that her clients are grateful to have reached a settlement with Johnson City.
“The public record in this case is extensive,” Baehr-Jones said.
“I would encourage anyone who wants to learn about this case to review the docket for themselves.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 9:26 AM with the headline "Cops refused to investigate ‘serial rapist,’ suit says. Now, TN city to pay $28 million."
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