Posted: Tuesday, January 29, 2013
A longtime Levittown-area youth coach is behind bars on $2 million cash bail charged with engaging in a sexual relationship for the last year with one of his 15-year-old softball players.
The charges come days after a fire Friday destroyed the mobile home where Kevin Jones, 34, lived with his wife and two children. Falls police said they planned to execute a search warrant Friday morning at the Hoover Drive home looking for evidence. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Jones, a married father of two, was arraigned on video Monday night before Bensalem District Judge Joseph Falcone on charges including indecent sexual assault, aggravated indecent sexual assault, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor and related charges. In addition to the $2 million cash bail, Falcone forbid Jones from contacting the victim.
Police say that Jones has coached for the Levittown American and Levittown Bulldogs girls softball teams for the last seven or eight years. The teen girl met Jones in 2011 at age 13 when she joined the team, police said.
The two communicated mostly through cellphone text messages or instant messaging on Facebook starting in 2011 through Jan. 13, police said. During that time, the two exchanged about 1,400 text messages, according to a probable cause affidavit.
In text messages, police said, Jones “routinely” identified himself as the girl’s father, telling her not to leave him and that he is the only man she needs and threatening to “kill” any boy she was interested in.
Police found two photos of her and Jones that depicted the two posing together “as a couple” on the girl’s cellphone.
Last spring, the then-14-year-old said that Jones started “flirting” with her, putting his arm around her and holding her hand while speaking to her. He referred to her as “baby doll” and “baby girl,” police said.
The girl, whose father is not in her life, began to confide in Jones about any problems she had, police said. In text messages, police say, Jones referred to the girl as “daughter” and identified himself as her “daddy.”
“I’ll be your dad from now on and I’ll protect you like I’m your dad,” he told the girl, according to the affidavit.
During a traveling softball tournament, Jones allegedly asked the girl to stay overnight in his room. The girl also told Jones that she knew he took pictures of her while she was sleeping.
One night after the girl visited a friend, she says that Jones drove her home. Outside her home, Jones gave her a long kiss on the lips, according to court papers. In the days that followed, the two continued kissing each other, which progressed into other physical contact, police said.
Eventually police say the two started having sex. Most, if not all the times, other people were in the house when they had sex, police said.
She told police the most recent sexual contact the two had was earlier this month in Jones’ bed at his mobile home.
“Jones and (the teen) telling each other that they love each other hundreds of times, each of which is accentuated by graphics, and contains exaggerated language such as I love you more than anything else in life,” according to court documents.
The text messages also contain “easily appreciated and understood” sexual innuendos, police said.
But the relationship came to an abrupt end, police say, after the girl’s mother learned about the alleged sexual affair earlier this month, after the girl confided in her older sister. The sister told the mother, who filed a complaint with police Jan. 9.
Police had planned to execute a search warrant seeking bedding, Jones’ cellphone and home computer when a fire ripped through the trailer shortly before 2 a.m. destroying all its contents. The family escaped; their dog was killed.
Fire officials have not yet determined the cause of the fire — which destroyed the evidence police sought. Jones and his family say it happened after the clothes dryer caught fire, police said.
In an interview with police Monday, Jones described his relationship with the teen girl as like father and daughter. He described hugging and kissing the girl, but added it took place in front of her mom and that the two always told each other “I love you,” he told police.
The last contact Jones told police that he had with the girl was a couple weeks ago when she text messaged him: “Run, my mom knows.”
Jones told police that he replied “Who knows?” Then he told his wife about the text message and consulted a lawyer who told him not to contact the girl, police said.
Jones added that he still doesn’t know what the girl’s text messages meant.
“I don’t know if she thinks I touched her, we play fight,” he told police.
Before meeting with police, the teen texted Jones and repeatedly apologized; in one text she wrote “I ruined your life.” Jones did not respond to any of the messages, police said.
Over the last two weeks, police say the girl continued to repeatedly apologize to Jones via Facebook’s news feed, telling him that she didn’t tell police about their relationship and begging him to reply to her.
She left six Facebook messages for Jones on Jan. 10 — the day after she met with police — the first one she wrote shortly before 6 a.m. and the last shortly before 9 p.m.
“I know you’re not going to answer me and you can hate me all u want. I’m sorry,” she wrote in one post at 12:01 p.m.
“I still love you even if you don’t love me,” she wrote shortly after 3 p.m.
“Will you ever talk to me again,” she wrote shortly before 9 p.m.
The next day, she sent Jones another six Facebook messages including one that told him that “nothing (is) going to happen to you for awhile.”
Her last Facebook message to Jones was posted a week ago.
“Can you talk to me, please.”
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@phillyBurbs.com;Twitter: @jociavaglia
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| Kevin Jones and his destroyed mobile home |
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