CLEVELAND, Ga. – Six months after being indicted for lying to law enforcement, the former Truett McConnell University Vice President of Academic Affairs, Bradley Reynolds still has not faced a judge or jury. The former official at the small Baptist university in Cleveland is charged with three felony counts of lying to law enforcement in connection with an alleged sex scandal involving a former TMU student and employee.
Reynolds surrendered in December to the White County Sheriff’s Office in connection with felony charges tied to a sexual abuse investigation, and a White County grand jury indicted him on December 8, 2025—six months ago today–on three felony counts of false statements or writings, concealment of facts, or fraudulent documents of government.
Reynolds waived arraignment—the formal reading of the charges—and pleaded not guilty on January 6th of this year. He was released on $30,000 bond, according to court records.
Enotah District Attorney Jeff Langley, who brought the charges, did not respond to recent calls and emails asking about the delay.
Alleged Victim Thanks the D.A.
The charges against Reynolds stem from statements he allegedly made to investigators during a March 2024 sheriff’s interview as part of an investigation involving Hayle Swinson, the former student and employee of TMU. Prosecutors allege Reynolds knowingly provided false information to law enforcement during that interview about his own alleged coercion and alleged sexual abuse of Swinson.
Swinson wrote to Now Georgia in a text late in May: “I’m grateful for the work of the District Attorney’s office and everyone who has now taken this seriously, because I believe it sends a message to other victims who may be afraid to come forward – that their voices matter and that they are not alone,” she wrote. “The rest is up to the justice system.”
According to booking information, Reynolds, at the time of his indictment, was living in Leonard, Texas, a small town northeast of Dallas. His last known place of employment was a family-owned sandwich shop. A year ago, he answered the telephone at the shop, then hung up when the caller identified himself as a reporter. A second call to the shop in May was answered by a female employee, who said Reynolds was away on vacation. The former vice president has made no public statement about the charges against him.
Reynolds resigned from Truett McConnell University in February 2024, the same day investigators interviewed him. The university has said it placed him on leave once administrators became aware of the allegations and accepted his resignation shortly afterward.
Not Clear When TMU Learned of Behavior
The college’s officials claim that day in February was the first they heard of the allegations against Reynolds, but several former TMU officials and students say the improper relationship was widely known on campus and had been reported to the then-President and the Board of Trustees.
The indictment followed renewed scrutiny of the case in 2025 after Swinson, for the first time, publicly described allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse on a religious podcast. While Reynolds has not been charged with sexual assault, the false-statements charges are directly tied to the broader investigation. The statute of limitations had made indicting Reynolds on sex charges complicated, Swinson’s attorney says, because she did not come forward for eight years. The alleged grooming and abuse occurred from 2013 to 2017.
The allegations and indictment
In the May 2025 podcast, Swinson alleged Reynolds lured her into one-on-one “discipleship” sessions in the basement of his home, which escalated from inappropriate touching during prayer, coercion, and eventually, rape.
Reynolds left Truett in 2024 shortly after Swinson reported her allegations to the White County Sheriff’s Office. While the sheriff’s investigator determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute, he determined that Swinson and Reynolds “had a long relationship spanning from September 2013 until June 2017.”
According to the indictment, Reynolds knowingly gave three false answers to Sgt. Anthony Wayne Sims of the White County Sheriff’s Office, while being questioned about the case on or about March 1, 2024.
The indictment details the specific nature of the alleged lies across three separate counts:
- Count 1 alleges that Reynolds falsely claimed he had never had a sexual relationship with Swinson.
- Count 2 charges that he falsely stated he was unaware of and did not communicate with Swinson using a particular Yahoo email account, which investigators reportedly later traced back to him.
- And count 3 alleges that Reynolds falsely denied telling and emailing Swinson that his wife was going to die and that he would make Swinson his “second wife.”
Reynolds Case Led to New Georgia Law
Earlier this year, “Hayle’s Bill,” which criminalizes clergy sexual abuse, was passed unanimously by both houses of the Georgia Legislature and signed by Gov. Brian Kemp on May 11th, capping a swift and emotional legislative push driven in part by Swinson and supporters in the state government.
Swinson, who testified emotionally in Atlanta hearings about the bill, walked through the Capitol with her team as lawmakers stopped to applaud and thank her — a visible sign of the bipartisan support behind the bill she helped bring to the finish line.
Marcia Shein, Swinson’s attorney, said she did not think the delay of the case was necessarily problematic.
“I have no idea why it’s taken so long,” she said, “but sometimes the justice system doesn’t move as quickly as people would like. I don’t know how that particular office [the Enotah D.A.] operates or what their caseload is,” she said.
She said it could just be a matter of dealing with the legal issues surrounding the charges against Reynolds.
Asked if she and her firm might be contemplating any civil lawsuit in connection with Reynolds’ alleged grooming and rape of Swinson, she answered, “We haven’t eliminated that possibility.”
She said she might yet explore “how much the school under (former President Emir Caner’s) representation and Mr. Reynolds—how they tried to hide and protect the events and to stop them from going on.”
“There is a failure to keep people safe in the school that has some legal concerns,” adding, “we didn’t recognize the severity of the cover-up until the investigator’s report.”
Shein said she was very happy with the Georgia government’s decision to pass the bill to prohibit grooming and sexual pressure between pastors and their congregants or students, even when the victims are 18 or older.
“It was long overdue, obviously,” she said. “I’m very grateful that the governor and the legislature got involved.”
She said it was a great step to stand against “the power of a married man in a pastoral position leading a young student in college–leading them to think this is consensual.”
Former President Gone; New One Hired
Former Truett McConnell President Emir Caner separated from the University last September, after an outside investigator submitted a confidential report to the TMU Trustees looking into the Swinson matter. After a national search, Caner was replaced earlier this year by Dr. Larry Lyon, previously of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Several of the parties to the Reynolds matter did not return phone calls or email seeking comment by press time, when contacted twice about the approaching six-month mark since Reynolds’ indictment.
By phone and email, Now Georgia attempted several times to contact:
- Enotah County Judicial District Attorney Jeff Langley, who brought the charges against Reyolds to the grand jury to secure the indictment;
- White County Sheriff Rick Kelley;
- Reynolds’ attorneys of record, Graham McKinnon IV and Theodore Cassert, of Fox, Chandler, Hicks, McKinnon & Cassert of Gainesville;
- TMU Director of Marketing and Communications Brandi Wood;
- Former TMU President Emir Caner, whom we sent a message through his LinkedIn profile.
None had returned calls, emails, or messages, as of press time.
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