Former Cerritos English Teacher Sentenced to 46 Years For Sexual Assaults

SANTA ANA , CA -- An English teacher who slashed his throat following his conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage relative of his live-in girlfriend was sentenced Friday to 46 years to life in state prison.

Jeffrey Scott Jones of Huntington Beach, who was out of custody on bail during his trial, was rushed to a hospital to be treated following the Oct. 19 incident.

Before Friday's sentencing, Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven D. Bromberg rejected a motion for a new trial filed by Jones' attorney, Ed Welbourn, who argued that the judge made a mistake in the trial allowing in evidence of past, uncharged behavior of the defendant with other students.

Bromberg sided with Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown, who argued that the victim's mother opened the door to the evidence legally when she testified about the strength of the defendant's character and insisted he couldn't be guilty of sexually assaulting her daughter.

The victim told the judge in a statement read aloud in court that the defendant "broke me down to worthless."

She added, "I was a little girl and (Jones) took my innocence."

The victim said she has graduated from high school early and is about to start college.

"I refuse to allow your assaults to stop me from being the woman I want to become," she said.

Brown told the judge that the defendant deserved the maximum punishment because he "stole her virginity... He stole her youth... He stole her mother... And he stole her sister."

The victim became addicted to heroin and the prosecutor held up a photo of the girl when she was finally found for the trial by an investigator, who located her in a crack house, Brown said.

The girl, when she was living with Jones, "became a prisoner in her home so the time has come for Mr. Jones to be a prisoner in his home."

Citing letters of recommendation for a lenient sentence from Jones' former students, Bromberg said they were "good people," but they weren't aware of the evidence presented at trial.

"You had to be there," Bromberg said.

Jones' supporters "just didn't see that side of him," Bromberg said.

Jurors deliberated about two hours before convicting Jones of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of continuous sexual abuse.

Jones was a teacher of Advanced Placement English classes at the Libra Academy in Huntington Park at the time the felony charges were filed. Earlier in his nearly three-decade teaching career, he worked at two Los Angeles County campuses -- Bell High School and Gahr High School in Cerritos.

According to prosecutors, he had sex with the 13-year-old girl in May 2013 and molested her at various times from September 2012 through April 2013.

Brown told jurors that the defendant's girlfriend accused the teen of "framing Mr. Jones" and had her placed in a youth shelter. The girl was subsequently placed in a county facility, and also in several foster homes, Brown said.

Brown presented evidence that Jones had sexual relationships with two underage students who were 16 and 17 at the time. After he married the 16-year- old, he later had the 17-year-old move in and she got pregnant at 18, according to the evidence presented at trial.

Welbourn accused the girl of "concocting a story" because she was smoking marijuana and trying to hide it.

-- City News Service. Photo courtesy of the Orange County district attorney's office.