Roswell city councilman Kent Igleheart remained in jail Wednesday, nearly a week after her was arrested and charged with child sex crimes.
Igleheart, 53, missed a specially called city council meeting Wednesday. If he misses three consecutive meetings without being excused, according to the city charter, he forfeits his right to the office.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Roswell spokeswoman Julie Brechbill said Mayor Jere Wood is “not big on excused absences.” Wood is on vacation out of the country, and won’t return until Nov. 2. The next scheduled meeting is Nov. 1.
“If you’re serving the city, you need to be at the meeting,” Brechbill said. “He doesn’t give them lightly.”
Igleheart was Roswell’s mayor pro tem. Councilman Donald Horton, who was elected mayor pro tem for the meeting, said he hasn’t had any constituents talk to him about Igleheart, and he hasn’t reached out to the councilman’s family. As far as his potential removal from office, he said, “I’m going to leave it up to the city attorney.”
“It obviously was a shock,” Horton said. “It’s a difficult situation. I don’t want to say anything that might have an impact.
Igleheart was charged with sexual exploitation of a child, enticing a child for indecent purposes and furnishing alcohol to a minor. He is accused of maintaining a 4-year relationship with a girl beginning when she was 13.
Patrick Cahill, a Roswell resident who has two young girls, said Igleheart's arrest and the arrest earlier this month of a former teacher made him uncomfortable. Christopher Brown, a 37-year-old former Mount Paran Christian School teacher, was charged with having sex with a 17-year-old girl in Marietta and kissing a 15-year-old Roswell student.
“You don’t know really who you’re sitting next to,” he said. “Two incidents like that in such a short span of time gives a father pause.”
Cahill said he hoped Igleheart would resign his post, whether or not he is guilty. If he is not, Cahill said, he will need to “amount a vigorous defense” and wouldn’t need the distraction of city business. If he is guilty, he needs to focus his attention on getting help.
“When you have a sex predator on the city council, it’s concerning,” he said.
Igleheart’s term ends Dec. 31, 2017. As of Wednesday afternoon he had not posted the $30,000 bail at the DeKalb County jail. He was arrested last Thursday. The councilman’s city profile says he is an actor/consultant.
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