TEXARKANA -- A former Trinity Christian School teacher facing criminal charges in connection with the filming of boys in bathrooms in two states appeared in a Texas courtroom Monday and an Arkansas courtroom Tuesday.
Shane Samuel Jones, 31, is charged with invasive visual recording in Bowie County, Texas, and with voyeurism and video voyeurism in Miller County.
Jones appeared Monday before District Judge John Tidwell for arraignment in Bowie County, Texas, where lawyer Danny Cook entered a not guilty plea to invasive visual recording on Jones' behalf.
Before Jones' case was presented to a grand jury, Jones attempted to plead guilty in exchange for a plea agreement that included probation and no jail time, but Tidwell refused to approve a plea deal for probation and allowed Jones to withdraw his guilty plea.
Tidwell also amended Jones' bond conditions to include a GPS monitor and no contact with minors when he rejected the proposed plea bargain in February. Tidwell set the case for a jury trial in July.
Circuit Judge Brent Haltom granted Jones a continuance Tuesday in the Miller County case and gave Jones a July date to return to court for a pretrial hearing.
Jones came to the attention of law enforcement in November when an 11-year-old boy alerted his parents that a man had slipped his cellphone beneath a stall divider in a bathroom at J.C. Penney store in Texarkana, Texas.
During interviews with law enforcement, Jones admitted to filming the boy at the department store and to filming multiple boys in restrooms at Trinity Christian School in Texarkana, where he worked as a teacher, according to court documents.
Trinity Christian fired Jones after the allegations surfaced.
The charge Jones faces in Bowie County is punishable by six months to two years in a Texas prison. The charges facing Jones in Miller County are each punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
NW News on 04/11/2018