On March 29, 2019 police arrested 46-year-old Robert Jones on two counts of rape, carnal knowledge, forcible sodomy, four counts of taking indecent liberties and criminal solicitation. Jones is a Newport News police officer in Virginia.
It is alleged that Jones sexually assaulted a female juvenile with the help of a children daycare business.
Kristi Lynn Cline, 43 — who police say ran the day care business out of her home in the 1200 block of Springwell Place, off Denbigh Boulevard in Denbigh — turned herself in and was charged with eight counts related to the investigation.
The police department received a complaint on June 6, 2018 regarding the sexual assault, WTKR News reports. The charges against Jones came following a “thorough investigation” by the police Special Victims Unit and Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
Jones had sex with the girl three times and sexually assaulted her on another occasion, said a criminal complaint filed in Newport News Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
In 2008, when the the girl was 12 years old, her mother hired Cline to watch her after school, according to a criminal complaint filed by Police Detective Kathryn L. Riley.
The complaint details four separate sexual assaults — with the first in either 2008 or 2009 and the last between 2009 and 2011. All four assaults occurred in Cline’s home — three of them in her bedroom, the complaint said.
The woman who said she was assaulted, now 22 years old, reported the incidents to the Williamsburg police last June, triggering a 10-month investigation by the Newport News police.
According to Riley’s complaint, Jones was a friend of Cline’s, “and would frequently stop by the residence to visit.”
The complaint said that on two occasions between 2008 and 2009 — when the girl was still 12 — Jones had sex with her as Cline took part in the sexual activity. Another time, the complaint said, Jones and Cline were having sex and had the girl participate.
The complaint said Jones and the girl had sex once in a different part of the house between 2009 and 2011, when she was 13 or 14.
Newport News police Chief Steve Drew said in a statement:
“We take these allegations very seriously and are working closely with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office regarding the criminal charges. In addition, the department has been conducting an extensive administrative investigation regarding the officer involved. No one likes to see someone in this profession do something or be alleged of doing something of a criminal intent. It hurts relationships, it hurts the organization and hurts this profession.”
Jones has been with the department since 2007 and is assigned to the North Precinct, he has been placed on administrative leave without pay pending the results of the administrative investigation. Jones had an annual salary of $59,255.
