By Lemuel Herg
The Honorable Janene Beronio, in Department 10, presided over the second day of the jury trial of Lionell Jones..
Deputy DA David Robbins, representing the People, brought in the main security supervisor at Cache Creek Casino Resort to testify.
His testimony primarily corroborated with the alleged victim’s claims. He mentioned that in his time serving as a security supervisor, he became comfortable with figuring out the level of honesty through a person’s facial and body movement—and in this case, he testified that the alleged victim, a casino employee, was very frankly crying and was visibly shaken up when she came to the security office to talk about sexual molestation by Mr. Jones.
To back up the claim that the alleged victim was distraught, security surveillance footage was shown in court that displayed her crying, with a box of tissues next to her.
After hearing the employee’s allegations against Mr. Jones, the security supervisor called the authorities, who sent over Deputy Jose Pineda and another sergeant. They then all went together to arrest Mr. Jones, with the security supervisor taking the alleged victim to hide in a nearby vending machine room—in this way, the employee was able to identify the suspect without endangering herself.
It was here, however, when the witness testified in court that he never heard the police officers informing Mr. Jones as to why he was being arrested.
To that point, however, Deputy Pineda claimed the opposite. After the security supervisor was dismissed, Deputy Pineda was called to the stand to testify. In his version of events, he did indeed inform Mr. Jones, inside his hotel room, about the reason for arresting him.
The deputy also shared the statement he took from the defendant at the scene of the alleged crime. Mr. Jones claimed that he did indeed try to hug the Cache Creek employee, but that he did no further actions than that. He answered the deputy with a very strong “hell f**king no” to any insistence that he touched the employee inappropriately.
After the deputy disclosed to the court what Mr. Jones had told him, the defense was to produce the footage taken from the deputy’s car that recorded the conversation between them. However, it was at this point that the courtroom adjourned for the afternoon.
People v. Jones is scheduled to reconvene for another session, with at least one more new witness, and with recalling the security supervisor to the stand.
Previous: Trial Opens for Man Who Allegedly Sexually Assaulted Worker at Cache Creek
By Adrian Lopez
It was an emotional first day of trial in the case the People v. Jones, with opening statements and direct examination of the alleged victim gripping the courtroom.
Defendant Lionell Jones is charged with misdemeanor counts of sexual battery, battery on a person, and false imprisonment for events that occurred on October 1, 2017, at Cache Creek Casino Resort in Brooks, California.
Allegedly, defendant Lionell Jones, a frequent patron of Cache Creek, caressed and grabbed the breast and buttocks of the victim while she was delivering food to his hotel room around 6am.
Mr. Jones, a father of two who owns his own handyman business and lives in Richmond, California, visited the establishment on a regular basis.
The alleged victim, a room server who had been working at Cache Creek for approximately five months at the time of the incident, had served Mr. Jones on multiple occasions prior to the 
incident and claimed he was “rude and disrespectful” every time.
According to the alleged victim’s testimony, on the day of the incident, she was tasked with delivering food to Mr. Jones in the early morning and close to the end of her shift. When the complaining witness came to Mr. Jones’ hotel room door, he answered in just a white t-shirt and underwear and told her to come into the room to deliver the food.
The alleged victim testified that, although she felt uncomfortable, she entered the room and began to set up Mr. Jones’ order in the corner of the hotel room; as she turned around, Mr. Jones was very close to her and began to caress her arm and move his hand toward her breast, and then he tried to hug her.
She testified that when Mr. Jones tried to hug her, she put her hands on his chest and attempted to push him away, verbally telling him to stop touching her. She then attempted to walk around Mr. Jones and exit the hotel room, when Mr. Jones moved into her path and prevented her from leaving, while continuing to caress her arms, breast, and eventually her buttocks.
The alleged victim testified this interaction persisted for approximately 10 to 15 minutes before she received a call on her work radio telling her she had another food order to deliver, at which time Mr. Jones suggested she should return to work. Mr. Jones then paid the amount due for the room service and gave his business card to the alleged victim, saying she should “call him sometime.”
After exiting Mr. Jones’ hotel room, the alleged victim tried to report the incident to her direct manager, who disregarded the report. She was not taken to security and law enforcement personnel until approximately over an hour after the incident had allegedly occurred, continuing to work while being visibly shaken and affected by the incident.
It was at this time in the court proceedings that the direct examination of the alleged victim concluded, and the court recessed for lunch.
