Former head of Athens nonprofit arrested for assault, was on probation for 2022 assault

By Joe Johnson

Charles Junior Hardy, the former executive director of the nonprofit Athens Alliance Coalition, was arrested this week for allegedly assaulting a woman at a bus stop.

Hardy, a 51-year-old resident of Bethlehem, is currently on probation for a conviction on charges from a 2022 assault on a female resident of a homeless encampment that his organization was operating for the county government.

The most recent incident occurred the afternoon of May 22, at a bus stop in front of the public library on Baxter Street.

According to a police report, a 32- year-old woman said that Hardy walked up and began recording with his phone, and he would not stop even after she and others at the bus stop told him they didn’t want to be recorded.

The woman told police that she then began recording Hardy with her phone, which angered him and he got in her face, yelling threats. She reportedly had recorded his behavior, but Hardy struck her hand, sending the phone crashing to the sidewalk.

The damaged Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max was valued at $1,200, according to the police report, which indicated that Hardy drove away from the scene.

Hardy was arrested Monday on warrants charging him with misdemeanor simple battery and felony criminal damage to property, and released later that day upon posting bonds totaling $7,350.

He was not immediately charged with a probation violation.

However, in May 2023 Hardy was convicted by a jury on misdemeanor charges of battery and disorderly for the homeless encampment incident in which he hit and spit on the victim. The same jury acquitted Hardy of charges he assaulted a second woman in an unrelated incident.

A State Court judge sentenced Hardy to 72 hours in the county jail and 24 months of supervised probation. The judge also ordered him to have anger-management counseling and a mental health assessment.