Background: The Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services office in Jackson, Miss. (Google Maps). Inset: Wilson Frederick Jones (Lafayette County Sheriff's Office).
A Mississippi middle school teacher who was fired after allegedly getting caught producing AI-generated child sexual abuse material was hired by a state child welfare agency after being arrested — and despite asking his future employer not to investigate his past.
Wilson Frederick Jones, 30, was employed as a middle school teacher by the Corinth School District until November 2024, when he was allegedly caught using his school computer to create child sexual abuse material that included the likenesses of underage female students. On Nov. 20, 2024, Jones was terminated, but requested to resign, agreeing not to appeal his termination. Jones was subsequently arrested by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office in early December 2024.
A couple of months later, Jones applied for a job at the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services (MDCPS). The agency hired him, even after being asked by Jones "not to contact the Corinth School District," according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime. His first day of work was Feb. 18.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
The revelation that the MDCPS hired Jones for a position that, according to reporting by Memphis-based NBC affiliate WMC, would involve Jones working directly with foster children came from paperwork filed in federal court. The co-defendant in Jones' case is Corinth School District Superintendent Edward Childress, who was accused of failing to report Jones' alleged crimes to law enforcement and concealing those alleged crimes by allowing Jones to resign.
Childress did inform the school district of Jones' resignation, but allegedly not in a timely manner. According to court records, the Mississippi Department of Education did not find out about Jones' arrest until January, and Childress allegedly did not report the alleged crime to local police in a timely manner.
He is seeking to sever his case from Jones'.
Court records did not indicate when Jones applied to the MDCPS, but they did state that during the application process, Jones asked the agency not to contact the school district that fired him. He began working for the agency as a Social Service Specialist II on Feb. 18. According to court records filed by Childress' attorneys this month, "Unfortunately, MDCPS chose not to inquire with [Corinth School District] as to why a certified teacher left his employment mid-year."
WMC reported that it was not clear whether or not Jones was still employed at the MDCPS.
According to the original criminal complaint, Jones allegedly produced child sexual abuse material on his work computer at Corinth Middle School using an AI tool and images of female students, aged 14 to 16 years old, from the middle school that were found on social media.
Jones' and Childress' trial is currently scheduled to begin on Nov. 17.
