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Head of NORD board leaves post amid allegations of groping, inappropriate behavior

Attorney says Judge Byron Williams continues to deny claims

NEW ORLEANS -- The chairman of the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission’s board of commissioners is stepping down amid allegations of sexual improprieties.

Byron Williams' attorney said his client does not want to take away from the good work NORD-C is doing in the community.

"We continue to vigorously deny the underlying allegations,” Willliams' attorney Ernest Jones told WWL-TV Tuesday evening. “It appears to him that he is becoming a distraction from the ability of NORD-C to continue to work for the betterment of our youth.”

Williams also presides over Section G of Orleans Parish's Criminal District Court.

Courthouse sources told The New Orleans Advocate in September 2017 that the Louisiana Judiciary Commission is investigating complaints that the judge groped a female clerk and made off-color comments from the bench.

"The allegations are false," Jones told WWL. "This did not happen. There was a misunderstanding on the part of one of the complainants. We expect to be vindicated."

Williams' resignation from NORD-C is effective immediately.

He will remain on the bench, pending the outcome of the ongoing judicial investigation. So far, there have been no formal charges from the Judiciary Commission.

Williams has served as the District D representative on the NORD-C board since 2016.

Williams, who is married, is a former federal prosecutor. He worked under ex-U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan and followed Jordan to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office in 2003, at which point he served as a state prosecutor for five years.

He resigned as executive counsel to the president of Southern University to run in 2014 for the Section G seat in Criminal District Court, replacing retired Judge Julian Parker.

During his successful bid for the bench, Williams listed "judicial integrity" as a top plank of his platform, The Advocate reported.

Jones' full statement:

"We continue to vigorously deny the underlying allegations. Judge Williams has worked on behalf of young people all his life. That's why he agreed to serve on the NORD-C Board of Commissioners. It appears to him that he is becoming a distraction from the ability of NORD-C to continue to work for the betterment of our youth. To prevent that, he has decided to resign from the NORD-C Board effective immediately."

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