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As The Herald went to press at 11:30 a.m. May 12, word came from Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe that Jane Charlotte Jones had filed criminal charges of indecent exposure against dismissed jailer Jeff Burnette. For complete details, see next week's (May 20) edition of The Sylva Herald.
Charges not filed against accused jailer
By Rose Hooper
No criminal charges will be filed at this time against Jackson County jailer Jeff Burnette, who was dismissed March 26 following indecent exposure allegations.
“The women, or at least one of them, who made the allegations would have to testify for there to be a case,” said Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe.
None of them showed up to press charges at Monday’s (May 10) scheduled meeting with the magistrate, according to Ashe.
On May 5 he and District Attorney Michael Bonfoey met with Jane Charlotte Jones, a former inmate who alleged Burnette exposed himself to her.
“We talked to her about the potential that she could be re-victimized on the witness stand,” Bonfoey said.
“We told her what she would face, gave her options and left the decision up to her,” said Ashe. “If she was going to press charges, she was to have met Monday with the magistrate, but she never showed up.”
Jones told The Herald last week that Burnette had “opened up his pants, pulled out his private parts and started playing with himself,” while she was in the jail in March.
Another female prisoner reported she also witnessed the act .
Following an internal affairs investigation, Ashe dismissed Burnette.
If charges had been filed and Burnette had been found guilty, he could have faced probation or a suspended sentence, Bonfoey said.
Even without the formal charges, Burnette no longer holds certification with the N.C. Sheriff’s Standards and Training Commission due to his dismissal, according to Ashe.
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