Former Fire Deputy Chief Sentenced to Life in Prison

A former Everman fire department deputy chief has been sentenced to life in prison after orchestrating a violent home invasion and sexual assault against a woman he knew.

This week in Everman, Texas, a former fire department deputy chief, 54-year-old Joel Jones, was sentenced to life in prison after a Tarrant County jury convicted him of orchestrating a violent home invasion involving rape against a woman that she knew. Jones pled guilty to aggravated assault. It took jurors 20 minutes to hand him a life sentence after hearing testimony regarding the attack that took place on February 21, 2025.

In a statement, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said “One man’s depravity was on full display this week in the Tarrant County Courthouse.”

Prosecutors said that Jones served as the deputy chief with the Everyman Fire Department at the time of the crime. The evidence presented during the trial showed that Jones recruited 31-year-old Tobasia Griffiths through a dating website to carry out the assault, falsely telling Griffiths that this encounter was a casual fantasy.

Court documents show that Griffiths entered the victim’s home and bedroom the night of the attack. The victim, who is a devout Catholic, fought back by striking Griffith, the attacker, with a lamp and managed to escape by convincing him to let her use the bathroom, which is when she fled the home.

Once the victim returned home, locking all doors, she called Jones, who then contacted 911. Jones supported her despite having engineered the assault.

Investigators discovered that Jones had instructed Griffiths to record the sexual assault, which he did. Within days of the initial attack, Jones attempted to arrange for the woman to be raped and kidnapped again. According to prosecutors, Jones ‘ goal with this was specifically to “break “ the victim and strip her of the faith that “anchored her.”

During closing arguments, Kim D’Avignon, who was the assistant District Attorney, told the jury, “There is evil in our world, and it’s sitting right there. He wanted to take the most precious part of her and break it.”

Griffiths also pled guilty to aggravated sexual assault and cooperated wth th eprosecution against Jones.