This story was updated at 6:05 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, 2024 to reflect Arkansas Post-Prison Transfer Board Chairman Jamol Jones’ resignation.
The new chairman of Arkansas’ parole board lied about having sex with a minor and was fired from a Central Arkansas police department five years ago.
Newly uncovered records from the Benton Police Department reveal details about Post-Prison Transfer Board Chairman Jamol Jones’ sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and the subsequent investigation that led to his termination as a police officer.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed Jones to the board last year, and he was recently selected chairman, meaning he also took a seat on the Board of Corrections.
Jones resigned his position on the Post-Prison Transfer Board Friday afternoon, leaving a vacancy on both governing boards.
Jones lost his job at the Benton Police Department just a few months after graduating from the police academy. Jones, who was 29 at the time, admitted lying to his superiors after a complaint was made about a relationship with a teenage girl, according to an internal investigation report. The investigation was first reported by KATV.
The governor’s office complimented Jones’ past public service in a statement, but Communications Director Alexa Henning didn’t respond to a question about whether Sanders was aware of Jones’ past conduct when she appointed him to the Post-Prison Transfer Board, formerly called the Parole Board.
“Jamol bravely served our nation in the Army and protected his community as a police officer providing him with the experience and knowledge to serve on the Post-Prison Transfer Board and the Board of Corrections,” Henning said.
Jones in a media statement also alluded to his past service and said he didn’t commit a crime.
In Arkansas, the age of consent is 16, and authorities concluded their investigation after finding no evidence Jones used his position as a police officer to coerce the girl into sex.
“I did not break any laws, no charges were filed, but I made a mistake. I’ve asked God and my families forgiveness for, and I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said. “I am proud of my service to our country and our state, and the support of my wife and family.”
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Sanders appointed Jones to the Parole Board shortly after taking office in January 2023, but the appointment drew little public attention. After becoming chairman of the Post-Prison Transfer Board, Jones automatically filled a seat on the Board of Corrections.
That appointment, announced a week ago by the governor, has drawn increased scrutiny due to Sanders’ ongoing dispute with the prison oversight board.
Sanders’ appointment of Jones came after he was one of her gubernatorial campaign’s county coordinators. The campaign highlighted Jones’ support in 2021, calling him a “former law enforcement official.”
U.S. Rep. French Hill’s campaign also featured a video of Jones endorsing the Republican congressman three years ago.
The investigation
Police in Benton began investigating Jones in 2018 after the Saline County sheriff’s office received a complaint that he was in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl he had met at a local gym.
At first, Jones told police that he had only talked with the teenager, but after being told about her age and additional evidence, Jones admitted to having oral sex with the girl before later admitting that they had sexual intercourse, the internal report states.
During the internal investigation, Jones admitted lying twice to investigators, and he also declined to allow investigators to search his phone, records show.
While the person who made the complaint said that the girl had told Jones her true age, Jones repeatedly told investigators that she said she was 18. The teenager told police that she couldn’t recall whether she told Jones her true age.
The investigator wrote in his report that he took a break from an interview with Jones to talk with several Benton captains after Jones maintained that he believed the girl was 18.
“The Captains asked if I believed Officer Jones and based on his vague answers, his actions, and his position that he had no evidence to prove he had reason to believe she was eighteen, I did not believe him,” the investigator wrote.
The teenager’s mother told police that she believed her daughter would lie about her age to pursue the relationship with Jones, a report said. She told officers that she didn’t want Jones to go to jail over the relationship, but she felt that he shouldn’t be a police officer.
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During the internal investigation, Jones maintained that he didn’t know the girl was under 18, but he said he should’ve picked up on clues that she was underage. He also passed a computer voice stress analyzer test meant to detect changes in voice that indicate lying.
Prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges against Jones, but they did put him on the “Brady list,” according to an internal memo. These are lists prosecutors maintain of law enforcement officers who have been proven to have lied that are turned over to defense attorneys in criminal cases that may involve the officer. The term comes from the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland that decided a defendant must be provided with any evidence that might exonerate them.
Other legal trouble
Jones, who has been married for about nine years, also admitted in court in 2022 to having an affair with another woman, who then sued him for paternity of a child she claimed he fathered in 2021.
That case was voluntarily dismissed after Jones didn’t revoke consent to the child’s single-parent adoption.
In his 2022 statement of financial interest, which was required due to his position on the Parole Board, Jones reported that he owed $688 in overdue state income taxes.
As of Friday, there was no lien against Jones for his state taxes, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.
