Alleged victim's parents: 'We want this to be over with'

COVINGTON - The parents of the alleged teen victim in a Northern Kentucky sex abuse scandal involving an ex-Ben-Gal and former teacher are telling a judge they want the charges to be dropped.

Ex-Ben-Gal cheerleader Sarah Jones is accused of sleeping with a student while she taught English at Dixie Heights High School.

Jones is fighting the charges she's facing, and so are the alleged victims' parents. The male student's parents say their son is no victim, and they're standing by the Joneses.

In a letter to Kenton County Judge Patricia Summe, the parents wrote that they're upset over the prosecutor's actions in court this week and specifically mentioned how Assistant Commonwealth Attorney John Balliet referred to text messages allegedly sent from their son's phone. Balliet described the texts as "steamy” in court.

"Since this evidence was sealed I would assume in part to protect our son we feel this has caused him harm," the parents wrote in the letter. The parents are not being named to protect the victim’s identity.

The parents also said their son "spent half his senior year watching friends and classmates being pulled from their classes by Detective Inman to ask them if they knew anything about him and Sarah Jones being together."

The said in the letter that the actions were "borderline harassment."

"We feel enough damage has been done to both parties,” the parents said in the letter. “We want this to be over with so our son can start his college career with some sort of peace and direction."

Wednesday, the Jones' attorney, Eric Deters asked the court to suppress the text messages or dismiss all charges because, according to him, the news reports would taint the jury pool and hurt his defense.

Jones resigned from her teaching position in November.

A Kenton County grand jury indicted Jones in March of first degree sexual abuse and unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities.

Her mother, Cheryl, who was the principal at Twenhofel Middle School in Independence, was indicted for tampering with evidence.