Dance instructor taped apologizing for betrayal
Accused dance instructor Daniel Jones broke down as he apologized to the father of one of the girls whom he allegedly sexually assaulted. The father secretly recorded the conversation on tape.
"I know how much ---- looked up to me," Jones said on the tape. "I could see it in her eyes.
"When she said, 'I could never do this to you, Daniel,' I knew how much she trusted me, and I broke that.
"If it meant my life to give it back to her, I would do it," he said.
The tape was played to jurors yesterday during the trial of the former dance instructor accused of sexually assaulting five female students at the Rosalie Woodson Dance Academy.
The alleged sexual assaults occurred between July 2004 and last June, when the girls were 12 to 14 years old, at the dance studio, in their homes or on a camping trip. In most cases, Jones allegedly attempted to hypnotize them before or after the assault.
The father of one of the girls confronted Jones after learning what had happened to his daughter, and secretly recorded the conversation.
Jones' lawyer, Myron Takemoto, had said Jones never admitted to doing anything wrong during the two conversations and was just trying to placate the girl's father.
The 21-year-old Jones said on the tape he felt bad about betraying the man's family.
"I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen. I was trying to help her, but I didn't know where it went."
"There were totally innocent reasons for being there, and it just somehow went bad."
"I never meant any harm. It was supposed to help her, but I just got carried away," he said.
Jones told the father that he had gone to see his psychologist and a hypnotherapist "because I kind of couldn't really remember about what happened."
"For a while I was doing a massage relaxation induction, and I don't do that anymore because for one I realized it wasn't a good idea, and two, it just got a little out of hand and it wasn't where it was supposed to be," he said.
The father told Jones at one point in the tape, "You grew up with a lot of these girls, but as you get older ... there may get to an issue where there is ulterior motives."