A state board of corrections member is being urged to step down following accusations of him covering up child sexual abuse for decades.
Alonza Jiles, who had been a board member since 2022, was formerly the director of the Lord’s Ranch, which is under fire for allegations of child sexual abuse. The call for his resignation comes just weeks after another board member, Jamol Jones, resigned amid accusations that he was fired from a police department in 2018 for violating law enforcement code of ethics after an investigation into sexual misconduct with a minor. On behalf of 30 victims, Joshua Gillispie filed three lawsuits in which seven victims claim they were sexually abused by a staff member. The victims claim that Jiles was aware of the abuse, but didn’t intervene. In those cases, victims also claim the abuse went on after telling Jiles about it. They went to Jiles, told Jiles, sent a letter to Jiles hoping for help, hoping that maybe this guy would put a stop to it, and he never did, Gillispie said. Sometimes he would be involved in punishing them for reporting it.
The allegations are vivid, Sen. Ben Gilmore (R-Crossett) said. Theyre disturbing, theyre horrific. It happened under Mr. Jiles watch, and as such he should step down from the board. Gilmore claims to have been encouraging Jiles to resign for months.
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