by Jerry Grillo
White County News
Investigations into sexual abuse and cover-up allegations at Truett McConnell University have begun, with both law enforcement and an independent investigator reviewing hundreds of pages of evidence and scoping out plans for further research. And campus leaders were making assurances that the campus was safe as the university was beginning summer semester.
The probes are in response to claims from former TMU student-athlete Hayle Swinson, who told Christian media outlet the Roys Report that longtime administrator Bradley Reynolds manipulated and abused her for years. Her allegations, supported by hundreds of texts and emails, and a brief investigation by the White County Sheriff’s Office in 2024, has prompted other former students to speak out, many accusing university leaders, including President Emir Caner, of ignoring and silencing their complaints.
TMU’s Board of Trustees responded by placing Caner on administrative leave and appointing Dr. John O. Yarbrough as acting president. The Board also hired well-known veteran investigator Richard Hyde to lead an independent review of the university.
“Today makes one week I’ve been on the case. I’m still trying to get up to speed with the players and the documents and everything,” Hyde told the News this week, before requesting not to be interviewed.
Hyde is well known in Northeast Georgia, where he helped expose misconduct that led to the resignation of two judges in the Enotah Circuit in 2012: Judge Lynn Akely-Alderman resigned following an ethics investigation, and Judge David Barrett resigned after brandishing a handgun in court.
A former Atlanta Police Department investigator, Hyde is currently a chief investigator for the law firm of Balch & Bingham. But he’s conducting the TMU probe as an independent contractor for his company, Phoenix Research, LLC.
“I’ve known Mr. Hyde for many years, he’s been around a long time and is a very professional investigator,” said Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jeff Langley, whose office is reexamining the criminal elements of abuse at TMU.
“Right now, I’ve got a notebook here sitting on my desk of more than 500 pages,” said Langley. “We’re going through it in an organized, painstaking process.”
Prosecution Possible
That pile of information includes the sheriff’s office investigative report, along with emails and other communications. Langley’s office has also begun scheduling at least half a dozen follow-up interviews. Last year, sheriff’s investigators revealed the long-term relationship, but no charges were filed against Reynolds due to a legal gap. But White County Sheriff Rick Kelley resubmitted the case to Langley for another look.
“I would not want to mislead anyone that thinks a prosecution is imminent,” Langley said. “On the other hand, we’re not saying a prosecution has been ruled out.”
Both Hyde and Langley indicated the investigations could take months.
Meanwhile, the News has learned from sources close to TMU that some staffers have begun resigning and cleaning out their offices. This comes in the wake of a tense staff meeting in which administrators, former students, and faculty were in obvious disagreement over the facts of the case — a recording of the meeting was leaked to the Roys Report.
During the meeting, TMU attorney Grant Greenwood is heard saying there wasn’t prior knowledge of Swinson’s complaints before the police investigation in February 2024. But a TMU math professor, Veronica Respress, vocally disagreed, saying she’d confronted Reynolds and said it was hard to believe that campus leaders, “didn’t know something.”
In a letter released last week, Yarbrough began with, “Truett McConnell University is facing adversities with faith and facts.” Then he urged readers to have faith while the investigators pull together the facts.
At press time, Yarbrough and TMU’s trustees hadn’t responded to the News’ repeated requests for an interview. But the acting president has been working to stabilize the university community, writing, “Our campus is a safe environment as we move forward. These recent events do not define the University. The University will emerge from this time stronger and more focused than ever.”