'I'm not going to let you in my house': College Park councilman accused of faking address for reelection

College Park councilman accused of faking address for reelection

According to his sworn statement attached to the notice of candidacy filed on Aug. 17, Derrick Taylor lives in an apartment at 2800 Camp Creek Parkway in College Park. But the FOX 5 I-Team found him spending a lot of his time at a house in the City of South Fulton.

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. - The mayor pro tem for College Park faces an unusual allegation: does he even live in the city he’s supposed to represent?

Derrick Taylor filed to run for reelection in Ward 2, a seat he first won in 2017.

According to his sworn statement attached to the notice of candidacy filed on Aug. 17, Taylor lives in an apartment at 2800 Camp Creek Parkway. That’s in College Park.

But the FOX 5 I-Team found him spending a lot of his time at a house in the City of South Fulton.

College Park resident Vannessa Bridges filed a challenge to Taylor’s candidacy, asking for a hearing "to determine whether or not the candidate is eligible to seek reelection."

College Park Mayor Pro Tem Derrick Taylor spends a lot of his time at this City of South Fulton house.

"You should live in the area because that’s supposed to be your community," Bridges said in an interview. "Not just a job. It’s supposed to be your community. You’re supposed to help the people in your community. And I just don’t see it!"

We saw Taylor or his SUV at the South Fulton house at all hours of the day, on various days of the week.

Once we even saw him rolling in luggage.

Derrick Taylor rolling in luggage to a South Fulton home he says belongs to his children. He denies living here.

One day when we knocked on the door of that South Fulton house. Taylor answered, explaining his son and daughter live there with his grandchild. He just stops by a lot.

And his car we repeatedly saw outside? Taylor said his son borrows it a lot for their cleaning business.

"I work overnight also," he explained. "Sometimes I come here. Most of the time I go to my house."

In June, College Park police responded to a burglary call at Taylor’s apartment. But he wasn’t the one who called the police. It was his sister. According to the report, "Veronica White … stated that her apartment had been broken into and ransacked."

When Taylor arrived at the scene, he told police he had last been at the apartment three days earlier.

Taylor later told us his sister has been living with him temporarily because of COVID-19. He said he was likely in Albany helping his father when the apartment burglary happened.