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67 possible victims of sexual harassment by Sean Williams now | WJHL

Sean Williams’ former home in downtown Johnson City, Tennessee. Williams is suspected of sexually assaulting dozens of people there. (Photo: WJHL)

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Just weeks before the federal trial of former Johnson City business owner Sean Williams for producing child pornography, recently filed court documents reveal that the alleged serial rapist is now suspected of sexually abusing at least 67 different women and children.

The information comes from an affidavit filed in a civil lawsuit in federal court by Mike Little, an investigator with the Attorney General’s Office for the First Judicial District. Little is examining digital evidence allegedly seized when Williams was arrested on drug charges in Sylva, North Carolina, on April 30, 2023.


“I have discovered a total of approximately 67 individuals who were either confirmed to have been sexually assaulted by Sean Williams or who were likely victims of these assaults,” Little wrote in his July 16 affidavit.

The document increases the number of known alleged victims, or “probable” victims, by 15. It was filed by plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the City of Johnson City and several current and former officers of the Johnson City Police Department (JCPD). That lawsuit, which centers on Williams, alleges that the JCPD – whether through corruption or otherwise – failed to properly investigate allegations against Williams between 2019 and 2021.

Johnson City has rejected all claims in what are now three federal lawsuits.

Williams has not been criminally charged with the rape of an adult woman, but he faces state and federal charges for three alleged counts of crimes against children.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer described the three charges pending in Williams’ escape trial last week as: “Inducing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.” The trial on those three charges is scheduled to begin on August 27. If convicted, Williams faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison for each charge.

Source of visual evidence

Authorities in North Carolina allegedly seized digital storage devices (including USB drives) when Williams was arrested. They reportedly discovered folders containing video and image files depicting multiple sexual assaults by Williams on apparently drugged victims in his downtown Johnson City apartment. Little has been examining the evidence since North Carolina authorities turned it over to prosecutors on May 22, 2023, the affidavit states.

Little filed a search warrant affidavit in June 2023, listing files allegedly containing at least 52 different victims. News Channel 11 first revealed the exact scope of Williams’ alleged sexual assaults in a report that aired several weeks before his September 2023 arraignment on the federal child pornography charge and concurrent state charges of child rape and sexual assault.

Little’s first affidavit, filed in June 2023, also stated that the JCPD itself seized computers and other digital evidence during a search of Williams’ apartment in September 2020. Police were investigating Mikayla Evans’ fall from his fifth-floor apartment at the time.

Despite urging from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kat Dahl, the JCPD decided in late 2020 not to search Williams’ computer files. Transcripts of a meeting with then-JCPD Chief Karl Turner and Captain Kevin Peters that Dahl recorded on Dec. 8, 2020, show that she expressed concerns “about whether this would be the type of person who would, for example, have child pornography on their computer,” Dahl said in the transcript.

“If somebody can shed some light on how we can get a search warrant for the computer, hey, I’m more than willing to do that,” Peters responds. Ultimately, Williams’ computer and digital devices seized by the JCPD were not reviewed by them.

Turner has chosen not to renew the annual contract under which Dahl worked with the JCPD to bring certain drug and gun cases to federal court, where they often result in longer prison sentences. She has also sued the city, claiming the firing was retaliation for her efforts to push police to investigate Williams more aggressively.

Little’s affidavit was part of a motion filed by attorneys representing several alleged victims. Police defense attorneys have sought to interview and formally question three alleged victims, claiming the women have given conflicting statements about Williams, their interactions with police and other matters.

Lawyers for the women involved say they are now part of a proposed class action lawsuit in which they are not “class representatives” and therefore cannot be called as witnesses. The lawyers also argue that the testimony of other alleged Williams victims has “unnecessarily re-traumatized” them and that the information defense attorneys need from the other women could have been obtained through “less invasive means” than through testimony.

Williams – who was convicted of escape in federal court on Friday – has also tried to bring corruption charges at the JCPD. His efforts to do so at his recent trial, where he represented himself, were quickly dismissed because the issue was irrelevant to the escape charge and not admissible at that trial.