Durham teacher facing student sex charges surrenders

A Durham school teacher surrendered Monday to Forsyth County authorities on charges that he had a sexual relationship with a student in that county.

Terry Lamar Jones Jr., 28, of 5011 S. Alston Ave., faces 64 counts of sex with a student. He was being held in the Forsyth County jail under a $500,000 bond.

A North Carolina Central University student wrote an article in the school newspaper in which she recounted her relationship with an instructor at Parkland High School when she was a senior there.

The student wrote under a pseudonym and called the instructor "Smith" in the article, which included graphic details about an abortion she had in Greensboro. She said the location had been chosen by her teacher so that they wouldn't be caught together.

After the article appeared in the paper, Parkland Principal Tim Lee brought it to the attention of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.

The N.C. Central student who wrote the article declined to comment Monday.

The alleged sexual encounters occurred between October 2007 and May 2008, authorities said.

Jones was hired last summer as the band instructor at Shepard Middle School in Durham. He has not been placed on leave by Durham Public Schools, spokeswoman Tahira Stalberte said.

Shepard Middle Principal Ericka Boone notified parents over the weekend that Jones faced criminal charges in another county.

Mack Jarmon, whose grandson attends Shepard Middle, questioned why Durham school administrators didn't know about the alleged relationship before Jones was hired.

"No one knew about it. That's the concern – one of the concerns – that I would have," Jarmon said.

Attorney David Freedman of Winston-Salem said Jones waited for him to return from a trip to surrender to police. He asked people not to rush to judgment, saying the alleged incidents happened several years ago and that people "need to let the process play out."