Florida Teacher Gets Prison for Sex with Boys - Updated

(Bartow, Florida) Former sixth-grade teacher Danielle Jones, 33, was sentenced Tuesday (10/20) to 10 years in prison for engaging in sex with four teen boys.

Prosecutors said the boys were 14 to 16 years old when they had sex with the middle school science teacher. Two of them were her former students.

Jones had faced a possible life sentence, but Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen said he was willing to impose a lesser sentence because the four boys were willing participants.

Jones will also be required to register as a sex offender on probation for 15 years upon release from prison.

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Florida Teacher Guilty of Sex with Four Teens - Updated
[Previous 8/20/09 post]
(Bartow, Florida) Now 33, former sixth-grade teacher Danielle Jones was found guilty today on five counts of lewd battery and three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor stemming from engaging in sex with four teens, including two former students. The jury deliberated about an hour before returning the verdict.

During the trial, the teens detailed their relationship with Jones.

Assistant State Attorney Mark Levine accused Jones of taking advantage of the teenagers, who ranged in age from 14 to 16 years old.

Two of the teens were her former students, while she met the other two through them. None of the boys were her students at the time of the incidents.

Jones had sex with them multiple times on different occasions throughout the summer of 2007, Levine said. Jones would pick them up and drive them to her home on Oakview Avenue, Levine said.

The teens gave detectives detailed descriptions of the layout and items within her home, he said. The four teenagers testified Wednesday about visiting Jones for consensual sex. [...]

One teen told jurors he slept with Jones on as many as five different occasions. Some said they were present as she had sex with another one of them. Two teenagers, who are brothers, testified they both got into bed with Jones and took turns having sex with her.

One teenager estimated that he had sex with Jones at least eight times during one encounter with her. Another teenager said Jones offered to take him to Tennessee with her, and they could live together. He said he grew tired of her contacting him, so he cut off the relationship.

Prosecutors say the sex began after Jones reconnected with two former students through online conversations using MySpace, a social networking site. Jones referred to herself as "momma" on her MySpace postings, according to arrest reports.

A lawyer representing three of the teens filed a notice of intent to sue the school system. Jones faces possible life in prison when sentenced. The date of sentencing is unknown.

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Florida Teacher Arrested for Sex with 6th-Grade Boys
[Previous 6/6/08 post]
(Polk County, Florida) A 32-year-old sixth-grade science teacher at Stambaugh (Auburndale) Middle School, Danielle Lynnette Jones, was arrested this week for allegedly engaging in sex with at least two boys, ages 14 to 16. The boys were reported to be in her sixth-grade class.

Authorities stated that Jones contacted the boys via MySpace, met them on five separate occasions and took them to her home for sex.

Jones has been charged with two counts each of lewd and lascivious battery and unlawful sex with minors.