Former YDC counselor accused of having sex with inmate has her day in court

Lorenda Denise Williamson, 54, sort of was at the mercy of the court.

What she was accused of doing was captured on security video, and the video previously was entered into the discovery phase of the case and watched by different parties during previous hearings. 

Now, Williamson has been sentenced to five years behind bars and another 20 on probation after pleading guilty to four counts of "sexual contact by employee or agent in the first degree." Williamson stood accused of having sex on four different occasions with an inmate at the RYDC here in Milledveville. The inmate (or "student" as they're now officially called) was 18 at the time. Although not common knowledge, YDC facilities in the state of Georgia can house "students" all the way up to the age of 21.

Williamson, a Jones County woman, was represented by the high-profile Hogue & Hogue Law Firm out of Macon, the same lawyer group that represented one of the McMichaels in the Ahmaud Arbery case, as well as other high-profile clients over the years.

The arrest happened back in May 2021. Williamson, who was a mental health counselor, already had been fired when she reportedly returned to gather some of her personal items. Administrators the called in the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, which oversaw the arrest and transported Williamson to the county jail on Old Monticello Road. She bonded out a week later, which means that she'll only receive one week "of time served" in prison.

According to the Official Code of Georgia, the statute in this case is defined as “an employee or agent commits the offense of improper sexual contact by employee or agent in the first degree when such employee or agent knowingly engages in sexually explicit conduct with another person whom such employee or agent knows or reasonably should have known is contemporaneously in the custody of a correctional facility, juvenile detention facility, facility providing services to a person with a disability, or a facility providing child welfare and youth services of which he or she is an employee or agent.”

Also as  part of the plea, Williamson is not permitted "to have any contact" with the former inmate, while she was also issued $2,805 in fines and court fees.