Missouri – An area police officer is facing several felony charges alleging an ongoing sexual relationship with a underage teenage girl.
Quntazi Jones, 29, an officer with the Potosi Police Department, is being charged with four class D felonies of statutory rape and three class D felonies of statutory sodomy.
According to a probable cause statement, on Thursday the Missouri State Highway Patrol Division of Drug and Crime Control was requested to conduct an investigation into allegations against the officer concerning a sexual relationship with a now 16-year-old girl.
A trooper with the patrol interviewed the teen and she admitted to having sex with Jones more than 20 times. She explained their first encounter was in April of 2017 during a baseball game at the sports complex in Potosi.
According to the report, she said they had a sexual encounter in his personally-owned Dodge Charger. She also said that within that same week her and Jones engaged in sex again on a county road near her home, again in his car.
She told the investigator they had sex at least four times when he lived at the Loomis Street Apartments in Potosi. During a later interview with Jones, he said he lived at those particular apartments from August 2016 through September 2017. He said he then moved to an apartment on Glendale Street in September 2017.
The teen told investigators the last time she and Jones had sex was one to two weeks ago at his apartment on Glendale Street. She recalled the encounter to be around Sept. 20, and said she met Jones at his apartment for the sexual encounter.
The report said she added that he was on duty as a police officer and showed up in his police uniform and with a patrol car.
On Oct. 4 the patrol investigators contacted Jones and he agreed to go with them to the Troop C Service Center for a formal interview.
Jones was read his Miranda Rights and said he would talk with the investigators. The investigation report indicates that during the interview Jones denied everything other than knowing the teen, but said that he did have a personal relationship with the teen’s parents.
The investigators asked for consent to download the contents of Jones’ personal iPhone, and during the download reportedly nude photographs of the teen were discovered in a password protected folder inside the Snapchat app.
The trooper reported that upon confronting Jones about the discovery he admitted the teen sent him nude photographs. One of the pictures were of a female’s chest and Jones confirmed the photograph was of the teen.
After further questioning Jones told the investigators there were numerous photographs of his genitals on his phone which had been sent via Snapchat to the teen. After the investigators discussed their interview with the teen they contacted Jones back and asked if he would be willing to speak with them again.
Jones agreed to speak again, and was once again informed of his Miranda Rights. The investigators told Jones about the information provided by the teen and Jones then reportedly admitted to having a sexual relationship with the girl.
Jones said the sex began between April and August of 2017. He said the first time they had sex was at the Sports Complex in Potosi, in his personal vehicle – the same story as reported by the teen during the first interview.
Jones also said the last time he could recall having sex with the teen was the last week of September. He also admitted during the interview that he had various sexual contact with the teen more than 30 times from their first contact until the most recent one.
Jones also said approximately one month ago he met the teen while he was on-duty and had sex with her at his apartment.
Jones was booked in the Jefferson County Jail on a $100,000 bond. There was also a note on the complaint next to the bond amount, which states, “While the state has only charged the above four incidents, Jones has admitted to more than 30 sexual encounters with the victim, occurring between the ages of 14 to 16 years old.
The Potosi Police Department released a brief statement on the matter. Police Chief Mike Gum said Jones has been charged stemming from an investigation conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
“Quntazi Jones has been placed on administrative leave from the Potosi Police Department,” Gum said. “Further questions regarding this investigation should be directed to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.”
The Washington County Sheriff’s Department also gave a statement, Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen said on Oct. 3 his department received information that alleged a Potosi Police Officer had engaged in a relationship with a juvenile female.
“I contacted the Missouri State Highway Patrol and requested they assist with the investigation, which they granted and are handling the criminal investigation at this time,” Jacobsen said.
He referred all questions to the MSHP and the the Washington County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.