The Republican candidate for a Cobb County state House seat was arrested last week and charged with felony child molestation after allegedly approaching a girl near her bus stop and exposing himself.
What’s Happening: Andre Stafford, who is running for Georgia House District 42, was arrested October 22 by Smyrna police. He faces one felony count of child molestation and one misdemeanor count of public indecency.
What the warrant says: According to a Cobb County arrest warrant, a girl was walking to her school bus stop near Lakes Edge Drive SE and Hillsdale Parkway in Smyrna on October 15 when a man in a gray sedan pulled up beside her. The man told the girl she was pretty, then allegedly exposed himself and touched himself before driving away. The incident happened between about 8:22 and 8:27 a.m.
How investigators found him: Smyrna police used automated license plate cameras to track a gray 2024 Kia Forte registered to Stafford. Camera records showed the vehicle entering a nearby condominium complex at about 8:11 a.m. that morning. Investigators then showed the girl a photo lineup that included Stafford’s driver’s license photo. She identified him as the man involved, according to the warrant.
What happened after the arrest: A Cobb County magistrate, a judge who handles initial court proceedings, first denied bond, saying Stafford posed a danger to the community. He was later released from Cobb County jail October 24. The race: Stafford is the Republican nominee challenging incumbent Democratic state Rep. Gabriel Sanchez in the November 3 general election for House District 42, which covers parts of Smyrna and Cobb County. Sanchez was first elected to the seat in 2024.
His political background: Before running for the state House, Stafford held a leadership role in Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Collins’ campaign volunteer program, called the “Convoy Captains.” Stafford was reportedly among several volunteers removed from that leadership program following reporting about connections to far-right figures.
B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
