A Seminole family is suing the Pinellas County school district, alleging its lax hiring procedures and employee oversight led to a campus activities monitor sexually abusing their minor daughter in 2024.
Demetrious Dontay Jones, who resigned from his job at Richard O. Jacobsen Technical High School after his arrest in the case, also is named in the suit. He went on trial on six first-degree felony charges of lewd or lascivious battery on April 28. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, court records show.
In the civil complaint filed April 23, lawyers for the victim’s family contend that the district should not have hired Jones in 2020 after conducting a required criminal background check. Records show Jones had several misdemeanor drug arrests prior to his employment, as well as a risk protection order that ended with the transfer of a weapon and ammunition to a third party.
The district “knew or should have known that Defendant Jones did not qualify for employment within the public school district,” attorney Thomas Nessler wrote.
Beyond that, the complaint continues, the district failed to act against Jones after receiving two separate complaints about his “inappropriate actions” against students after being hired. Those accusations included social media conversations with students and sexually oriented comments about a female student.
“They definitely were on notice,” Nessler said in a phone interview.
The upshot, according to the lawsuit, was “concealing a sexual predator,” placing children at risk.
The family’s daughter was subjected to explicit conversations and text messages seeking sexual activity from Jones late in her 10th grade year, according to the complaint. She was assaulted for the first time in spring 2024, during final exam week, with other occurrences through August, when Jones was arrested, the document states.
Following the arrest, the district did not provide the family support such as a referral to a rape treatment center or information regarding alternative forms of education, the complaint alleges.
“It was only after being assaulted by another student in February 2026 did the school offer accommodating educational courses” to help the girl progress toward graduation, the complaint states. She was “forced to continue her education in an environment that caused her to feel unsafe, uncomfortable, distressed, traumatized and distraught.”
The family is seeking damages to include medical, psychological and counseling expenses, and education costs, among other items. They have asked for a jury trial.
A spokesperson for the school district said the district does not comment on pending litigation.