Global Courant
A Georgia mayor was charged with burglary and criminal misdemeanor on Saturday, temporarily replacing him with one of the five city councilors who had indicted him this year.
Khalid Kamau, the mayor of the city of South Fulton in metropolitan Atlanta, was charged with criminal trespass and first-degree burglary. He was released the same day on $11,000 in bail.
He was also ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation, NBC affiliate WXIA reported from Atlanta.
Police forwarded a request for more information to the city’s director of public affairs, who declined to provide details on Sunday, citing an “ongoing investigation.”
“The City of South Fulton is committed to upholding the law and ensuring that all individuals, regardless of position, receive the same fair and equitable treatment,” said Jacqueline Howell, the interim director of public affairs.
South Fulton, Ga., Mayor Khalid Kamau in Atlanta on June 16.Paras Griffin/Getty Images file
The city’s municipal archives were asked for the incident report on Sunday.
An email to Kamau’s official city email address and to his chief of staff was not immediately answered on Sunday. Kamau said this on Facebook on Saturday that he was “good” and “free”.
“God is still using me. Stay tuned,” he wrote.
Kamau also shared a bible verse about “those who are persecuted because of righteousness.”
City Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown, the pro-mayor, will replace Kamau as acting mayor, WXIA reported. She told the station that the city will continue to function as usual while she takes over mayoral duties.
“As acting mayor, if I am called upon to take official action, I will do so until Mayor Khalid returns to work,” she said.
Williams-Brown and four other council members sued Kamau in March to remove him from office. Only two members of the council were not parties to the lawsuit, court documents show.
The lawsuit alleges Kamau knowingly released confidential information for his benefit since his election and recorded confidential executive sessions, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported at the time.
Kamau has had a contentious relationship with the municipality for more than a year. The municipality asked the public prosecutor’s office in June 2022 for an investigation into transactions charged by Kamau to a city-issued credit card that were discovered in an audit.
He asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate the city council for possible corruption the following month, WXIA reported.
