Controversial Melton Photos are Real

WAPT is reporting that the controversial photos of Jackson Mayor Frank Melton with a bevy of bikini-clad girls are on the up and up.

The pictures were taken by professional photographer Daren Gray, of Atlanta. They show Jackson's mayor posing with three provocatively dressed women in front of his Chrysler 300. Gray said the pictures were taken over a year ago for a car magazine named Spare Dime. But he recently posted two of them to his Jackson Free Press Lounge List Web site, he said, by accident.

Melton told WAPT that the photos aren’t as bad as they look.

"That was very innocent. I was having lunch at Peaches Restaurant on Farish Street and they were shooting a commercial across the street. I was so excited to have someone on Farish Street shooting a commercial and that was the extent of it," Melton said. "The dress was -- they were doing a commercial -- I guess that was all I can say. It was innocently done."

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