A third-party investigation into workplace misconduct at the West North Avenue Development Authority has been completed, Baltimore Beat has learned.
The investigation was launched after the Beat in April revealed numerous former employees’ allegations of misconduct against Executive Director Chad Williams dating back to 2023, including stalking and harassment. The article also unearthed that Williams had been hired despite previously being the subject of a federal investigation over his handling of sexual harassment complaints at a Nevada housing authority, accused of sexual harassment at two different workplaces, and convicted of domestic violence while actively leading an agency in Baltimore.
“I was taken aback by some of the allegations that were brought forward,” said State Delegate Marlon Amprey, a non-voting member of WNADA’s board who confirmed the existence of the investigation on June 30. “I take these allegations very seriously.”
Before Amprey confirmed the existence of the investigation to the Beat, all 20 board members ignored requests for comment about the allegations against Williams and remained mum about the allegations in the two months since the Beat’s article was published.
Before Amprey confirmed the existence of the investigation to the Beat, all 20 board members ignored requests for comment about the allegations against Williams and remained mum about the allegations in the two months since the Beat’s article was published.
Amprey declined to provide the name of the law firm that conducted the investigation or its contents. He emphasized that it was not a criminal or civil investigation, but rather an investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct and a toxic work environment.
Amprey said he vocally supported the investigation, which was being called for by board members prior to the Beat’s article, he said. The only additional details that he provided were that the law firm was chosen by the state Attorney General’s Office.
The Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Board members will now continue to discuss the report’s findings, which are expected to eventually be made public, Amprey added. From there, decisions will be made about whether its findings constitute criminal or civil investigations.
Governor Wes Moore, who sits on the board, declined to comment. Mayor Brandon Scott did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did any remaining members of the 20-person board.
WNADA’s next board meeting is at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, September 30, at Coppin State University.
Keyonna Penick, a former chief of staff and special assistant at WNADA who was with the organization for about one and a half years, called the investigation “bullshit.”
“I’m sure [Williams will] still find a way to flip this on the staff and taunt them to leave if unhappy,” Penick said. “The board is complicit.”
Penick joined WNADA in 2023 and was fired in March because of alleged performance issues. She was the first former employee to publicly call for Williams’ firing in an April 7 email sent to board members, current employees, and news outlets, recalling experiences she had and witnessed during her tenure at WNADA.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my own silence in the past. There were times when I saw the writing on the wall but convinced myself it wasn’t my fight. I needed my job. I justified my inaction, just as many of us do when survival takes precedence over principle. I won’t make that mistake again,” Penick wrote in the email.
WNADA is a state agency created in 2021 by bills sponsored by Amprey and Senator Antonio Hayes, both West Baltimore Democrats, to revitalize the West North Avenue corridor, which has seen decades of disinvestment.
Williams became the authority’s founding executive director in 2022, tasked with building the agency from the ground up, creating a redevelopment plan for West North Avenue, and overseeing millions of dollars in funding.
In the roughly three years he has helmed the agency, public officials have lauded his work to redevelop an area that has experienced disinvestment for decades.
Williams’ alleged misconduct came to light after Penick and multiple other women spoke to the Beat about how he reportedly harassed, stalked, and retaliated against employees since at least 2023.
Those employees accused Williams of targeting and humiliating women on the job, allegedly stalking one woman, and manipulating the grant process to favor certain entities.
Prior to joining WNADA, he was accused of sexual harassment “while serving as a board member for The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington in Washington, D.C.,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The accusation cost him his seat, but Williams has said that an investigation launched by the nonprofit coalition eventually discredited the claims,” the outlet reported.
Six years later in Las Vegas, sexual harassment and age discrimination complaints against Williams, then executive director of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, led to more than $125,000 in settlements with two women, the Review-Journal reported.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also investigated the authority’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints against Theodore Tulle, the chief operating officer, under Williams’ tenure, the outlet reported. In February 2021, six months before the Review-Journal reported the news of the federal investigation, Williams was put on administrative leave until his contract expired that June.
More recently, court records show Williams was charged with misdemeanor and felony battery charges in Las Vegas after being arrested on New Year’s Day 2023 for “punching a sleeping woman, throwing her to the ground and kicking her in the ribs and face,” the Review-Journal reported. The woman was bruised and had dried blood on her face when police arrived after a 911 caller nearby reported hearing a woman crying and yelling “stop” inside the house, according to the article. The woman told police that Williams stopped her from calling 911.
Court records show he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge in March of this year, after initially pleading not guilty to all the charges. The other charges were later dropped.
Logan Hullinger can be contacted securely by email at logan.hullinger@protonmail.com or on Signal at loganhullinger.24. Anonymity can be provided upon request.