KENNESAW, GA — Former Kennesaw Mayor and City Councilman Leonard Church will not be released from prison as previously scheduled this month while the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles reconsiders his case.

Church is serving an 18-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2015 to showing a 9-year-old boy child sex abuse material and molesting him. He became eligible for parole in 2021.

Board spokesman Steve Hayes says Church had been granted a release date, but the board stopped the release after receiving new information.

“The board made a decision to parole this offender, however, stopped that release after receiving new information that they did not have when making the release decision, information that will now be considered,” Hayes said.

Hayes says the new information is not public record.

“The board cannot disclose the information that it receives regarding a case,” Hayes said.

There is no timeframe for when the board will make another decision on Church’s parole.

“They will come with a decision whether that’s to start the release process again, whether to set a future possible parole period, a tentative parole month, or whether to deny parole,” Hayes said.

Hayes says all parole decisions are tentative and can be changed at any time before an actual release.

Meanwhile, the victim’s family has urged people to write to the board and ask that Church remain in prison for his full sentence.

WSB Radio’s Miles Montgomery, Ashley Simmons and Veronica Waters contributed to this story.