FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The first of three trials for a former after-school counselor accused of sexually molesting elementary school students got underway in Fort Lauderdale, Tuesday.
Michael Jones was arrested in 2011 for inappropriately touching young girls. He had been working in the after-school program at Forest Hills Elementary School in Coral Springs.
Jones, known as “Mr. Mike” to his students, is accused of performing oral sex on an 8-year-old girl as other children watched a movie. That alleged victim testified in court on Tuesday.
Prosecutor: “When he dropped your shorts and underwear down, did he take them completely off your feet and put them next to him?
Alleged victim 1: “No.”
Prosecutor: “Where did your shorts and underwear go? How low did they go?”
Alleged victim 1: “Like, around my ankles.”
Jones also faces charges in two other cases. Both victims in those cases claimed Jones inappropriately touched them while other children played.
Those two alleged victims, now in middle school, also took the stand on Tuesday.
Prosecutor: “Where does ‘Mr. Mike’ touch you?”
Alleged victim 2: “In between my legs.”
Prosecutor: “OK, on what part of your body did he touch you?”
Alleged victim 2: “My private parts.”
Prosecutor: “Did ‘Mr. Mike’ touch your private parts on top of your clothes or inside your clothes?”
Alleged victim 3: “On top.”
Prosecutor: “Did he say anything to you?”
Alleged victim 3: “He said, ‘Does this tickle?’ I said, ‘Yeah.'”
7News cameras captured Jones’ father listening to the girls’ testimony. Back in 2011, he defended his son to Broward County Circuit Judge John Hurley. “I’m a retired licensed registered nurse. My wife is a doctoral candidate. His environment is not conducive to his being in the framework of doing something that’s going to violate someone or violate the system.”
Jones is also facing a sexual battery charge. If he is convicted on that charge, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
His trial resumes on Wednesday.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.