Nationals Hitting Coach Suspended After Being Named in Revenge Porn Lawsuit
Nationals hitting coach Jacque Jones was named in a lawsuit last week that claimed he sent a naked photo of her without her permission online.
The Washington Nationals suspended assistant hitting coach Jacque Jones with pay on Friday night just minuted before the Nationals were slated to play the Chicago Cubs. The team initially announced Jones was suspended pending an unidentified legal matter that the club was investigating, but court documents show that just a week ago a revenge porn lawsuit was filed out of San Diego by a woman identified only as Jane Doe against both Jones specifically as well as the Nationals.
According to the lawsuit, Coach Jones distributed naked photos of her to a mutual friend over Facebook messenger as payback after she broke up with him. Jane Doe claims in the lawsuit that the photos were distributed to “to embarrass and humiliate… and to emotionally devastate her.”
Deadspin reports that Doe is suing both under California revenge porn law for the naked photos distributed without her permission, as well as for negligence on behalf of the Nationals. Doe claims that “employees and management” with the Nationals “knew of prior bad conduct of Coach Jones involving emotional abuse and intimidation of women” and did not take the necessary steps to correct the behavior.
According to the court documents, Coach Jones and Doe “began an intimate and sexual relationship” this past January. It was Coach Jones who initially asked for naked photos, allegedly asking for “the full tiddies” and assuring Doe that “U know I ain’t gonna do nothing silly with [’em].” She sent him “around 100 photos of herself.”
The relationship began to change for the worse over time. “If Plaintiff did not follow his orders or do what he wanted, he would become angry and would persistently send her harassing text messages,” the lawsuit states. When Doe decided she wanted to break up with Jones, he became angrier and angrier and eventually retaliated by sending photos of her naked breasts to “a mutual male friend.” According to the court documents,
Nationals manager Dusty Baker said Jones’s suspension was “kind of a downer,” according to USA Today. "He's a big part of the team," Baker said after the Nationals lost to the Cubs on Friday. "I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but it was a bit of a downer, and we hope that things subside and work themselves out."
According toUSA Today, the lawsuit seeks at least $25,000 in damages.
