Ex-assistant principal pleads innocent

A former Waldron Middle School assistant principal has pleaded innocent in Scott County Circuit Court to charges of first-degree sexual assault and evidence tampering after being arrested last month on an accusation that she had sex with a student.

Jessica Williams, 37, of Boles waived arraignment last week and entered the innocent plea through attorney Ernie Witt of Ozark to five counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count of tampering with physical evidence. The charges filed in circuit court say the offenses occurred between June 1 and Aug. 13.

After her arrest Aug. 14, Williams was released after posting a $100,000 bond, court records showed. No trial date has been set.

First-degree sexual assault is a Class A felony that carries a penalty of six to 30 years in prison. Tampering with physical evidence is a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison.

An affidavit by Waldron police detective Horacio Gonzalez said Williams confessed to having sex with a 16-yearold male student, exchanged sexual photos with him and that she “factory-reset” her cellphone when Gonzalez went to seize it from her.

According to androidcentral.com, a factory reset will erase all data on the phone.

The affidavit said Gonzalez was notified Aug. 13 that an anonymous letter was sent to the Waldron Public School central office that said the minor student disclosed to several people that he’d had sex with Williams and that they exchanged sexual pictures of themselves.

With his mother present during his interview with Gonzalez, the student said he and Williams had become acquainted during the 2017-18 school year through social media and had exchanged sexual pictures, the affidavit said.

During the summer, the student said, he and Williams had sex 15 to 20 times. The affidavit said the student told Gonzalez that he and Williams communicated by cellphone.

When confronted initially by Gonzalez, Williams denied having any relationship or contact with the student, the affidavit said.

Gonzalez told Williams that he would have to seize her phone. She agreed to turn over her phone and passcode, the affidavit said, but would not give consent for Gonzalez to search it.

Before surrendering the phone, Williams said she wanted to send a text message to her family so they would know she did not have her phone, according to the affidavit. She told Gonzalez she could not get good reception in her office and asked to step outside to send her message. Gonzalez waited a couple of minutes then went outside and took the phone from Williams.

After seizing Williams’ phone, the affidavit said, Gonzalez attempted to place the phone on the “airplane” setting and discovered that Williams had factory-reset the phone.