Woman claims 'extreme direct sexual harassment' against DeKalb commissioner

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A local woman tells Channel 2 Action News that she has recorded conversations and text messages detailing sexual harassment by a local commissioner.

The accusations including calling himself "big daddy" and telling her "I thought you loved me."

Ashlee Wright is the district director for DeKalb County Commissioner Greg Adams.

But now she's directed her legal team to seek justice for what she says he did to her and more.

"I had been having panic attacks, I couldn’t sleep, and it just seems like every day when I got to work it was something else," Wright told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne. “I tried to work within the system. (It) did not work.”

The commissioner denies it all.

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“I was greatly disappointed because I respect all my employees and I make my work environment very comfortable for everyone that works with me,” Adams told Winne. “It is unfounded, and I conduct myself professionally everywhere I go.”

“What kind of evidence do you have?” Winne asked Wright’s attorney, Robert James.

“Audio tape. Conversations. Text messages,” James said.

A letter to DeKalb County attorney Overtis Hicks Brantley from Bruce Morris, one of Wright's lawyers, alleges "extreme direct sexual harassment."

“Egregious sexual harassment, as well as a clear intent to retaliate,” Morris said.

“I say no, it has not been a sexually hostile environment,” Adams told Winne about the allegations.

“This is completely unwanted. This is completely unsolicited and it’s completely inappropriate,” James

The letter says, “The occasion where commissioner Adams incessantly texts Ashlee and asked her to send him a picture of her in a bikini."

“Have you mistreated Ms. Wright?” Winne asked Adams.

“Never,” Adams said.

The alleged texts say, “I thought you loved me. I just asked for a picture of you in your bikini. It's funny how you let the world see you but you won't let me see. That's cool." It adds: "No love lost."

“We work to move DeKalb County forward. It is not our interest to come to this place or any place to try to find a date or get a hook-up,” Adam told Winne.

James told Winne that Wright took another text from Adams at 3:29 a.m. during an out of town conference as an attempt at a sexual liaison.

"Good night young lady. I can't sleep. I may come down to see you. Do you want company?" the alleged text said.

The letter suggests there's more.

“I’m not a vengeful kind of guy. And I do not retaliate,” Adams told Winne.

The letter also said "the concern of retaliation is real."

Cox Media Group