ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) 鈥 A reputed drug dealer accused of raping a woman police informant sent into his house alone in an unmonitored sting has skipped bail and was a no-show Monday at what was supposed to the start of his trial.
Antonio D. Jones鈥 alleged attack in which he was caught on video forcing the woman to perform oral sex on him twice was reported in an last month that exposed the perils such informants can face seeking to 鈥渨ork off鈥 criminal charges in often loosely regulated, secretive arrangements.
鈥淚 guess I need to address the elephant that鈥檚 not in the room,鈥 Assistant District Attorney Brian Cespiva said during a brief court hearing, adding that federal marshals were actively searching for Jones and 鈥渉e will be here eventually.鈥
Jones, a 48-year-old career criminal known as 鈥淢ississippi,鈥 had attended previous hearings in the case but was discovered last week to have jumped his $70,000 bail and fled the central Louisiana area. Prosecutors told AP the amount of Jones鈥 bail had been 鈥減re-set鈥 and was not unreasonably low despite the violent nature of the charges and his extensive criminal history.
But Jones鈥 disappearance deepened the scandal over law enforcement鈥檚 handling of the case and their treatment of the informant, who was sent into the suspect鈥檚 dilapidated house in January 2021 to buy meth with hidden video recording equipment that could not be monitored by law enforcement handlers in real time.
鈥淲e鈥檝e always done it this way,鈥 Rapides Parish Sheriff鈥檚 Lt. Mark Parker, the ranking officer in the operation, told AP. 鈥淪he was an addict and we just used her as an informant like we鈥檝e done a million times before.鈥
Despite the woman鈥檚 cooperation and the alleged attack, she was still charged with possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from an arrest that happened about a month before the sting.
The informant, who declined interview requests and is not being named because the AP does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, is expected to testify against Jones if he is ever found.
The case turns in large part on the footage of the attack, which Jones鈥 own defense attorney argued was 鈥渆xtremely graphic鈥 and too prejudicial to show to jurors, conceding it depicts 鈥渇orced oral sex.鈥
According to interviews and confidential law enforcement records obtained by AP, the dealer threatened to put the crying woman 鈥渋n the hospital鈥 and even paused at one point during the attack to conduct a separate drug deal.
In court papers that baffled prosecutors, defense attorney Phillip M. Robinson even offered to stipulate that 鈥淢r. Jones had specific intent to rape鈥 the woman, contending it would be 鈥渄ifficult for a jury to maintain neutrality and non-bias鈥 after viewing the 鈥渧iolent sexual intercourse.鈥
Prosecutor Cespiva told the AP that Jones鈥 charges were recently reduced from forcible second-degree rape to third-degree rape, or simple rape, to make a conviction more likely. He said prosecutors intend to seek consecutive 25-year terms on each count.
鈥淲e want to convict this guy鈥 for the informant, said Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell. 鈥淪he wants this to be behind her.鈥
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Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org. Follow Jim Mustian on Twitter at @JimMustian.
