Washington mayor says woman he had sex with is blackmailing him

WASHINGTON - Frank Thomas, the mayor of the rural northeast Georgia town of Washington, has admitted being blackmailed since 1998 by a woman he paid while having a sexual affair with her. <br> <br> During a court hearing Wednesday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Cassandra Willis and John Pappillion have extorted at least $75,000 from Thomas, who has been mayor of the town of just over 4,200 people 90 miles east of Atlanta since 1996. <br> <br> The 68-year-old Thomas, a former bank president, said he met Willis when she was working at a local convenience store in 1990. <br> <br> Thirty-year-old Willis and 35-year-old Pappillion were charged with extortion after their home in Martinez, just outside Augusta, was searched October 24. They have since been held in the Wilkes County jail, each on $50,000 cash-only bonds. <br> <br> Superior Court Judge Purnell Davis did not reduce the bond at the hearing, but removed the cash-only stipulation. <br> <br> According to the warrant unsealed Wednesday, Thomas told the GBI that after his affair ended with Willis several years ago, she and Pappillion called him demanding money. They said if he didn&#39;t pay, they would expose him to the media and end his political career. <br> <br> While questioning GBI agent Tony Williamson at the hearing, defense attorney Richard Ingram asked if the agent was aware that Thomas met his client at a convenience store, put money in her pocket and said, ``I don&#39;t get sex from my wife. I have to go elsewhere.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Williamson said that Willis and Pappillion threatened to release a videotape of Thomas and Willis having sex. The mayor told the GBI he was called to their home and shown a tape of him and Willis getting ready to have sex.