That’s the best story this guy can come up with?

Georgia- [www.ajc.com]- Norcross’ former IT director, fired for allegedly downloading more than 24,000 images of nude or partially nude women onto city-owned computers, is fighting to get his job back.

Brad Williams, 45, was hired in March 2008 to run the city’s newly created information technology department.

Norcross terminated him on Dec. 5 after a work-related inquiry found 24,466 “inappropriate images” on computers in his office, according to reports obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Obviously, I’m denying putting [images] there,” Williams said Tuesday. “I believe someone else put it there.”

Williams’ attorney, David Studdard, will argue his case to the city in an April 20 hearing. Williams said he might pursue the matter in court if the city doesn’t reinstate him.

According to the reports, city officials found pornographic images and some videos after receiving complaints that Williams wasn’t doing his job.

In a memo dated Nov. 26, a city official reported that Williams did not adequately fix computer problems and that his assistant, IT coordinator James Beagle, picked up the slack.

But Williams said he wasn’t aware of any work-related issues until he did an open records request. “That had never been brought up at all,” he said. “That was news to me.”

In a Norcross police internal affairs investigation, Beagle told authorities that the city had instructed him to monitor Williams’ activities, including his computer time. While looking through one of the desktop systems, Beagle said he found pictures of females in various stages of undress, the report said. No evidence of criminal activity by Williams was found, according to the police report.

Beagle was recently named IT manager.

Before joining Norcross, Williams was the IT director for the city of Fairburn for five years.