CLEVELAND (GA)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
December 9, 2025
By Mark A. Kellner
Bradley Reynolds, the former Truett McConnell University vice president who allegedly groomed and digitally raped a student-employee at the Georgia Baptist school, was indicted Monday for lying to police about the relationship.
Reynolds faces three felony counts of “making a false statement” to Sgt. Anthony Sims of the White County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office during a March 1, 2024, interview. The maximum sentence for each count could be five years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the indictment.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Reynolds, with a bail bond set at $30,000. White County District Attorney Jeff Langley told The Roys Report (TRR) an arrest warrant for Reynolds’s extradition from Texas would be issued if he doesn’t “turn himself in.”
In May, TRR broke the story of how Reynolds, a trusted ally of then-TMU president Emir Caner, had approached Hayle Swinson, a TMU soccer player, to “disciple” her in “classes” held in Reynolds’ basement.
Reynolds allegedly said “God had told” him that his wife would die and Swinson and he would marry. That “betrothal” allegedly led to intimate touching and digital penetration of the student, who later became an employee at the school.
Caner, who became president of the 2,600-student school in 2008 and hired Reynolds the following year, was accused of ignoring multiple allegations about Reynolds’s behavior. This included a 2019 petition from 50 students.
TMU suspended Caner in June 2025 and fired him in September, following an independent investigation commissioned by TMU trustees.
“I was groomed, I was confused, I was targeted,” Swinson told TRR’s Julie Roys in a May podcast interview. “I felt isolated, like I was alone. … It took, and it has taken, and it will take years of my life to unwind every lie that was told to me.”
Swinson, who said she was a relatively new Christian when she arrived at TMU, has dealt with the aftereffects of Reynolds’s alleged assaults for years. Ashley Graves, a friend of Swinson’s, recalled a chilling text message from the TMU survivor in 2021: “Ashley, I need your help. I have a knife, and I’m about to use it.”
Swinson sought professional help after that incident. According to her counselor, Mary Beth Pierce, Swinson “reported having flashes of terror and disturbing memories … of abuse from her boss and pastor … around 2013. She reported feeling rage, disgust, numbness, terror … she realized she had been ‘manipulated and preyed on.”
TRR has contacted the school requesting comment.
According to the indictment, Reynolds “did knowingly and willfully make a false statement” when he told Sims “that he had no sexual relationship with Hayle Faith Swinson.” The indictment also says Reynolds claimed “he was unaware of and did not use” a Yahoo.com email account later confirmed to be his.
That email account was allegedly used by Reynolds to send approximately 300 emails to Swinson, some containing sexually graphic content.
The indictment also says Reynolds made “a false statement” to Sims when he told “Swinson that his wife was going to die and that he would make (her) his second wife.”
While the statute of limitations has expired on the allegations of sexual assault, attorney Marcia Shein, who presented Swinson’s accusations to the TMU board, said her client approved the latest developments.
Via email, Shein said, “Ms. Swinson is grateful the White County District attorney examined the case and presented it to the grand jury. The rest is up to the justice system.”