House arrest ordered for former DPS official accused of sex assault

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - Friends of John Jones attended the Friday afternoon hearing to show their support for the former top official at DPS. Wearing the same jail uniform he was in for his mug shot John M. Jones sat quietly as his lawyers argued against a motion by prosecutors to change the conditions of his bond.

Travis County DA Margaret Moore is worried about the GPS ankle bracelet he is to wear. Rene Boisvert, who is with the company that provides monitoring devices to Travis County, was called to testify before judge Tamara Needles.

Boisvert agreed with prosecutors that the company can not guarantee around the clock monitoring of Jones, and his job title as a counter intelligence expert is a red flag. The possibility that he could leave his house in Leander without authorities knowing creates a risk for his alleged victim and witnesses according to Moore.

“We do everything we can to protect every victim any victim and we rely on GPS monitoring regularly to do that it’s just that this particular defendant we believe has the kind of knowledge that most offenders don’t have,” said Moore.

Up until Tuesday John M Jones was the head of the DPS Intelligence and counterterrorism division. According to court documents he was arrested after a former co worker of Jones’ wife accused him of a brutal sexual assault during a party at his home last month.

Wednesday bond for Jones was reduced from $750,000 to $100,000 with conditions that included no contact with the woman who filed the complaint and the 24 hour monitoring. Attorneys for Jones argued Friday it was not appropriate for the DA to now back out of that agreement based only on speculation.

“The Constitution gives everyone in America rights no matter how heinous the accusation are and the fact that based on pure speculation they’re going to try and to go back on their word, is very disheartening for us but we are very happy with Judge needles her ruling we have total confidence in proceeding in this court and proceeding to defend against these charges,” said Benjamin Blackburn.

The judge, in allowing the original agreement to stand, clarified Friday afternoon that Jones will be under lockdown house arrest. She wants a digital exclusion zone’s created that would send out immediate alerts if he ventures near them. The judge also warned Jones any violation of the conditions set, even the suspicion of it, would result in his immediate return to jail.