9/5/17

By: Rob Moore  and Dean Dyer

54-year old  Leonard Amos Jones

54-year old Leonard Amos Jones

(CLEVELAND) — A White County Middle School teacher is out of the classroom and in jail after alleged inappropriate contact with a student at school.

Leonard Amos Jones, 54, was arrested Monday (Sept. 4) and charged with three counts of sexual assault, three counts of aggravated child molestation, three counts of sodomy, and three counts of reckless conduct, according to Capt. Rick Kelley of White County Sheriff’s Office.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, White County Sheriff Neal Walden said the sheriff’s office received a report from a parent Saturday, Sept. 2, of inappropriate contact that had been occurring between a teacher and a student at White County Middle School.

“As a result of our investigation and some forensic interviews and interviews that normally go along with this type of investigation, we have arrested Leonard Amos Jones, age 54,” Walden said. “He was a teacher there at the middle school here in Cleveland. At this point, the investigation is continuing – don’t know if there are going to be additional charges.”

Jones remains jailed in the White County Detention Center in Cleveland.

“He is currently still in custody,” Walden said. “He will get a first appearance hearing sometime in the next couple of days. Then it will go from there to probably superior court for any type bond setting, if there is a bond on the charges.”

White County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff Wilson confirmed that Jones worked for the school system and no longer is in the classroom.

“Over the weekend, the [school] district was contacted by White County Sheriff’s Office regarding accusations against a self-contained, special education teacher at White County Middle School,” Wilson said in a statement. “This individual is no longer in the classroom. The district is cooperating fully with law enforcement in the investigation. Our priority is taking care of all of our students.”

Asked whether Jones’ employment with the school system has been terminated, Wilson said, “Technically no. But with the arrest, we have started that process.”

Wilson said there is a required legal process that must be followed since there has been no conviction on the charges.

“I can definitively say he will not be back in any White County school,” Wilson said.

The alleged crimes happened on campus.

“The information we had is it had happened there at the middle school, so from there our investigation has gotten us to this point,” Walden said. “The school has been very helpful to us. Mr. [Jeff] Wilson and I have talked on several different occasions in the last couple of days, and we’re working together to try to get to the bottom of the total incident.”

Asked whether investigators are aware of more than one possible victim, Walden said, “At this point, we only have the one student that’s involved in it. It’s a juvenile.”

The investigation is active and ongoing, Kelley said.