CHICAGO — A Chicago Public Schools basketball coach and elementary school teacher accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in South Chicago was ordered held on $500,000 bond during a dramatic hearing Friday afternoon.
Kevin Jones, 35, was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault and two counts of attempted sexual assault for forcing the girl to perform oral sex while driving her and a friend home from an EPIC Charter boys basketball game on Jan. 17. Both girls are involved with the team.
According to prosecutors, Jones, of the 8300 block of South Kerfoot Avenue, was driving the two students home from a game when he stopped the car in the 8500 block of South Green Bay Avenue, prosecutors said. He allegedly tried to force one of the girls to perform oral sex, "pushing (her) head down in to his lap."
The girl struggled, prosecutors said, and Jones kicked her out of the car before forcing the second girl to perform oral sex.
The first girl told a teacher the next day; the second told her mother a few days later, prosecutors said.
There were many family members in the courtroom to show support for both Jones and the victims.
A woman watching the court proceedings from the gallery burst in to sobs halfway through the hearing. She was escorted from the courtroom by family members as she yelled, "That's my baby; that's my baby."
Another woman who left the courtroom with her said the crying woman was the mother of one of the victims.
Attorney Jeffrey Granich said Jones is "a good guy," he attended Paul Robeson High School in Chicago, graduated from Chicago State University, has two children, 1 and 8, and attends church where he serves as a deacon.
"We are looking forward to going to court and clearing his name," Granich said.
Cook County Judge Edward Harmening set Jones' bail at $500,000, and ordered him not to have any contact with minors if he is able to make bail.
When Jones' attorney asked if he could continue in his role as gym teacher at the other school where he works, Harmening prohibited him to have contact with minors other than his own children.
Sources said Jones is no longer a coach at EPIC, a CPS charter school.
