Teen says he initiated kiss with Four Oaks counselor

CEDAR RAPIDS (MCT) — A 17-year-old boy testified Monday that he initiated a kiss last year with a former Four Oaks youth counselor who’s on trial for sexual exploitation.

The teen said he initiated the kiss with Amanda Jones, 23, on June 3, 2009, when he was a 16-year-old residential client receiving help for behavioral issues. He said it happened while he was talking to her about the prospect of being discharged from the program.

Jones is on trial for sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist, a serious misdemeanor, in Linn County Associate District Court. If convicted, she faces up to one year in prison and a $1,875 fine, and she would be required to be listed on the sex offender registry.

The trial will continue at 9 a.m. today and is expected to wrap up at the end of the day. The teen said Jones’ role as a staff member included participating in group sessions with him and other clients and also conducting one-on-one sessions.

The 17-year-old said he and Jones shared a brief kiss at Four Oaks, followed by a longer one.
Mark Brown, Jones’ attorney, asked why he’d never mentioned the second kiss before taking the stand Monday. In a May 11 deposition, Brown said, the teen said there was only one kiss — “no more, no less.”

“So did you lie May 11 or are you lying today?” he asked.

The teen said he was telling the truth Monday.

“I don’t care about the testimony,” he said. “I was hoping to be done with this. I didn’t want to testify.”

The teen also testified that Jones gave him her cell phone number and met him in a school parking lot after the kiss.

Craig also introduced nine post-kiss e-mails from Jones to the teen. Brown said they were never sent for a forensic analysis to determine their authenticity.

During his opening statement, Brown said the thrust of the case is whether Jones was a counselor or therapist as defined by Iowa law.

Brown said she was only a youth service worker at Four Oaks.

In her opening, Craig said Jones was in a position of authority over the teen and violated his trust.