Alonza Jiles has declined to resign from his position on the Arkansas’ Board of Corrections despite being called to do so by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Sanders urged Jiles to resign because he has been named by multiple survivors of child sexual abuse at The Lord’s Ranch Christian residential facility. Civil complaints filed under the Justice for Vulnerable Victims of Sexual Abuse Act tell the stories of 16 plaintiffs who claim they experienced consistent and brutal childhood sexual abuse at the hands of their counselor, Emmett Presley, during their stays at the facility.
Jiles, former senior director of the Lord’s Ranch entities and facilities, is named as a defendant in multiple civil complaints.
Many of these survivors named Jiles as an authority who was aware of the violence but did nothing to stop it and sometimes personally perpetuated it. In fact, Jiles allegedly officiated a wedding in which an adolescent girl was forced to marry a staff member without her parents’ consent.
Civil complaints allege Jiles, along with a multitude of other Lord’s Ranch staff, actively covered up child sexual abuses happening under their direct supervision by restricting victims’ access to phone calls home and failing to notify law enforcement.
The legal team representing survivors of sexual abuse at The Lord’s Ranch, Romanucci and Blandin Law and Gillispie Law Firm, announced their support of Gov. Sanders’ call for the resignation in a press release. The attorneys said Jiles “fully ignored his responsibility as both a staff member of this residential youth facility and as a decent human being. Had he done the right thing and reported these concerns when he first learned of them, he could have saved so many young people from the trauma of sexual abuse.”
“Had he done the right thing and reported these concerns when he first learned of them, he could have saved so many young people from the trauma of sexual abuse.”
Considering his alleged complicity in the habitual raping and molestation of adolescents at The Lord’s Ranch, the survivors’ legal team “strongly believe(s) Alonza Jiles has no role in public service.”
The first civil complaints alleging Jiles’ role in the abuse were reported last November, but the recent resignation of former parole board chairman and Board of Corrections member Jamol Jones seems to have influenced the public’s decision to call for Jiles to resign, too.
Jones resigned from his position on the Post-Prison Transfer Board at the beginning of February after records from his tenure as an officer at Benton Police Department revealed he was fired for having a relationship with a teenage girl. Despite being 29 at the time, Jones maintains he did not break any laws because the Arkansas age of consent is 16, but was fired for lying about the relationship to superiors.
Jones’ resignation over questionable sexual behavior sparked conversations about Jiles’ reputability as a public servant, leading to the current calls for his resignation.
Despite this, Jiles maintains his innocence, claiming all allegations are false.
“I have been asked repeatedly by the media and politicians to comment on the lawsuits involving the Lord’s Ranch in which I am named as a defendant,” he said in a statemet. “The allegations against me are false. I was not aware of, nor did I participate in any child abuse. I did not preside over a wedding of any minor at the Lord’s Ranch. I have kept silent about this on the advice of counsel and because these lawsuits are pending.”
He is listed as pastor at New Horizons International Ministries in Searcy, Ark. He also appears in a video promoted by an abortion abolitionist group in Arkansas, warning that “the Lord’s not going to be happy with us” if abortion is allowed.
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