JONATHAN Rowe, the 45-year-old Jamaican mathematics teacher who was arrested and charged in May by cops from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office in Spring Hill, Florida, on charges of distributing obscene material to a minor and using a two-way device during the commission of a felony, has bonded out of jail and will be fighting the charges against him.

According to an official at the county jail where Rowe had been held on a US$25,000 bond, the educator, in appearing before the court there on June 26, “pleaded not guilty” and is now headed towards trial.

“That will take a while,” the official said.

The Jamaica Observer was told that Rowe, who was released on a surety bond on June 6, has been fitted with a GPS monitor to keep track of his movements.

As to Rowe’s immigration status, the official said, “Obviously, they would have kept him in jail and would have deported him if he met the criteria to be deported, but with them releasing him, I don’t know because obviously if there were issues with his visa he couldn’t bond out.”

A report posted by the sheriff’s office in May following Rowe’s arrest had said that the US Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had been notified of the incident for the purposes of obtaining a detainer, which starts the deportation process. That however appears to be in abeyance for the meantime.

Information contained on the Hernando County Clerk of Court website documented Rowe’s not guilty plea when he appeared before Judge Daniel B Merritt on June 26. It also showed that his attorney filed two notices of discovery on that day followed by two notices of confidential information and a notice of answer to demand for discovery.

A notice of discovery is a legal document used in court to formally request information and documents from the opposing party in a case. It’s a key part of the discovery process, where parties gather evidence to build their case or defend against claims. Essentially, it is how one side seeks to uncover what the other side knows and possesses that’s relevant to the legal dispute.

A notice of confidential information within court filing is a legal document filed with a court to identify and protect sensitive information within a court record. This notice ensures that certain information, like social security numbers or financial details, is not automatically accessible to the public. It essentially signals to the court clerk that specific parts of a document should be treated as confidential.

A notice of answer to a demand for discovery is a document filed by a party in a lawsuit to inform the court and other parties that they have responded to a request for information (discovery) from another party. It serves as proof that the party has fulfilled their obligation to provide the requested information or has provided valid reasons for not doing so, such as objections.

According to the Hernando County police, on May 13, a 15-year-old student at Explorer K-8 informed school administration that a teacher, identified as Rowe, had shown a cell phone picture of his genitalia to him.

The student told investigators that he was in Rowe’s classroom due to the teacher having a planning period. Rowe and the student had previously taken a photo together in the classroom. The student asked Rowe to view the photo. Rowe allegedly proceeded to retrieve his cell phone and immediately began scrolling through photos on the phone. The student claimed that as Rowe scrolled through the photos, he would stop on photos of what he believed was Rowe’s genitalia.

He further alleged that Rowe then asked him to take the cell phone into the bathroom to take pictures of his own genitalia to show it to him, but he refused. Rowe, when questioned by investigators, supposedly admitted that he did have pictures of his genitalia on his phone; however, he declined to answer whether he showed those pictures to the student.

On May 19, Rowe was arrested at his Spring Hill home on charges of showing obscene material to a minor and unlawful use of a two-way device, both felonies. He was transported to the Hernando County Detention Center where he had been held in lieu of a US$25,000 bond.

— Alicia Dunkley-Willis