A Stockbridge city councilwoman was released on $1,500 bond Thursday morning after a Henry County magistrate judge reduced her charge to criminal trespassing.
LaKeisha Tennille Gantt was arrested Wednesday afternoon at her Stockbridge home on a charge of third-degree arson, a felony, after Henry County police arrived at the home and found a pile of Gantt’s husband’s clothing smoldering in the garage, according to the police report. (The charge was reduced Thursday).
Gantt’s husband, Larry Wallace, had called police earlier to meet him at the home so he could collect his clothing.He told police he and his wife had been arguing all day by phone.
“She burned several pieces of her husband’s clothing,” said Lt. Michael Ireland of the Henry police department. “They had had a domestic dispute, not physical as far as we can tell. It was verbally over the phone. (There was) no indication that they are separated or what’s going on. We just know they’re a married couple and he went to get his clothes and they were burned.”
Efforts to reach councilwoman Gantt were unsuccessful.
The 39-year-old attorney’s term on the city council ends Dec. 31, 2017. In 2011, Gantt became the first chairman of the Ethics Board for Stockbridge. In 2012, she became the first African American appointed solicitor for Stockbridge. She owns Gantt & Associates law firm where she practices civil, real estate, family law and misdemeanor criminal cases.
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