MACON, Ga. — With four days left in early voting, there are several races 13WMAZ is watching — including the race for Macon-Bibb County mayor.
Last week, we shared platforms for Mayor Lester Miller and challenger Shekita Maxwell, but Maxwell refused to interview. 13WMAZ had planned to ask Maxwell about her goals for office and about a long history of brushes with the law.
Court records and Bibb County Sheriff's Office reports detail arguments with an apartment rental agent, family members, coworkers and her children's dance instructor.
Maxwell initially accepted an interview, then canceled and rescheduled. In the end, like several other requests for interviews since March turned out, Maxwell declined.
But in the interest of transparency, 13WMAZ is sharing some instances that came up in background research so voters have all the information they need when heading to the polls.
Although Maxwell declined to speak with 13WMAZ, our invitation remains open if she'd like to share her goals for office or address any of these cases.
Oct. 21, 2016
A Bibb County Sheriff's Office incident report calls Maxwell "irate" after her children's dance instructor called her to pick them up. The report says she "grew impatient" waiting for the instructor to discuss the situation and shut the music off by damaging an amplifier.
Maxwell said she was sentenced to anger management classes for that incident according to her statement in an unrelated lawsuit about a year later.
Nov. 8, 2017
Maxwell gave a statement after suing the United States Postmaster General after she was fired from her job at the U.S. Post Office after less than a month on the job. The Post Office says her arguments with coworkers escalated to violence. A federal judge threw out her lawsuit.
Nov. 8, 2022
Maxwell was working the polls in Bibb County when a man called the Bibb Sheriff's Office saying Maxwell wouldn't let him in. The man was a Republican poll watcher. The incident report says Maxwell's supervisor told her to let him in, but she refused.
Aug. 16, 2023
Macon-Bibb County terminated their agreement with Maxwell and her company, Royal Science, after accusing Maxwell of 'mismanaging' nearly $21,000 of anti-violence money. The county says they sent Maxwell two demand letters asking for the money back. On the phone at the time, Maxwell denied knowing anything about the letters even though county records show she replied to one of them.
Aug. 31, 2023
Maxwell is facing battery charges for an August incident at Bowman Station Apartments.
According to court documents, Maxwell was upset because maintenance workers got dust on her car. That allegedly led to an argument inside the office where Maxwell appears to lunge at an employee and try to grab her neck.
Accusations against Shekita Maxwell on battery, other charges
Last month, a judge threw out her motion for immunity where Maxwell argued she was acting in self-defense. The judge rejected Maxwell's argument that the leasing manager used "words of aggression."