Texas Fire Chief Hired Man On Hookup App To Act Out Assault Role Play On Unsuspecting Woman: Cops

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

A deputy fire chief working at a department in a small town in Texas has been arrested on charges of aggravated sexual assault after he allegedly hired another man to act out what investigators are describing as a “sexual assault role play experience” on a woman. The woman in question was supposedly in on the role play, per the fire chief — but she later told cops that she did not know about it beforehand and had NOT consented to any kind of role play in that manner.

According to court documents obtained by WFAA, Joel Jones (pictured above left, in his mugshot) is the deputy fire chief of the Everman Fire Department in Everman, Texas. He’s been arrested on one count of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of criminal solicitation of a felony — one of which is for aggravated sexual assault and the other for aggravated kidnapping. He was arrested late last month and remains incarcerated at the Lon Evans Corrections Center in Forth Worth.

Per court docs, the 53-year-old is not the only person implicated, either. Cops have also arrested 30-year-old Tobasia Griffiths (pictured above, right, in his mugshot) and charged him with one count of aggravated sexual assault. He posted bond late last month after his arrest and has since been released pending future court dates.

Per the arrest affidavit, the whole situation occurred back on February 21 after Jones and Griffiths allegedly met on the hookup app Sniffies. Cops say the two conspired to have Griffiths sexually assault a Fort Worth woman while she was sleeping — with the deputy fire chief allegedly claiming that the woman was in on the situation and willingly wanted to role play a sexual assault experience.

WTF?!

As documented in the arrest affidavit, the woman was asleep in her bed when Griffiths allegedly appeared in the doorway and threatened to rape her. A physical struggle ensued — and the victim later told cops she did not consent verbally to the actions, either — after which point Griffiths allegedly sexually assaulted her. The victim was eventually able to escape by saying she needed to use the bathroom, at which point she fled the home.

Some time later, Griffiths allegedly found the victim half-dressed and running down the street. He pulled up alongside her in his car and allegedly told her that he would “return and finish the job and kill her if she called police,” per the arrest docs. From there, FOX 4 reports that she called Jones, who called the cops and took her to the hospital.

The victim had taken note of Griffiths’ license plate during the incident, so detectives were able to quickly track him down. After he was arrested, he told them that he met a man whom he later identified as Jones on the app Sniffies. The affidavit read:

“Jones approached Griffiths on the app and asked if he would be willing to have a sexual assault role play experience with [the victim]. Griffiths stated that Jones said [the victim] was into it, and wanted to do this, so he agreed.”

Griffiths told cops that Jones allegedly told him that the victim was open to the act and had consented to it — no matter how much resistance she might show in the moment. Griffiths also told cops that Jones gave him the victim’s address, garage door code, and a day and time when she’d be alone in the home. The arrest warrant even stated that Jones allegedly sent Griffiths $100 via Zelle to participate in the attack.

Creepy AF…

But while Griffiths was adamant to cops that the whole situation “was all part of the act and the fantasy,” the victim said otherwise. She denied ever giving consent to Jones or Griffiths to perform the activity, and told police she didn’t know anything about agreeing to any “sexual assault role play experience.”

Somehow, though, this story gets even WORSE. Also according to the arrest warrant, messages allegedly sent between the two men show that they were supposedly planning a SECOND attack just four days after the first one! Per the affidavit, one message allegedly mentioned that “the next plan is to have her kidnapped.”

That plot was foiled on the day it was to happen, February 25, when neighbors called 911 after spotting an unidentified man hanging around the victim’s residence and acting suspiciously. Cops began piecing things together from there regarding the strange and unsettling alleged hookup app plot, and both Griffiths and Jones were eventually arrested.

After Jones was arrested, Everman Fire Chief Landon Whatley immediately placed him on administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation and the police investigation into the criminal charges. In a statement on the matter, Chief Whatley said:

“The nature of the allegations and charges are deeply concerning. Department command staff is fully cooperating with the Fort Worth Police Department as they investigate this incident. … We want to assure the public that we take matters such as this extremely seriously.”

But wait — there’s even more.

According to WFAA, the deputy fire chief’s arrest is particularly shocking because one of his neighbors in Fort Worth is now claiming that Jones had been going door-to-door in the neighborhood claiming that a sexual predator was on the loose. And that activity apparently happened AFTER the sexual assault took place in February!!

Neighbor James Martinez spoke to that outlet about the deputy fire chief’s door-to-door warnings to the neighborhood last month:

“We were told [by Jones] it was someone else scoping the neighborhood. Mr. Jones and some lady came knocking on my door, talked to my wife saying, ‘there is a vehicle out, keep your kids inside.”

WTF…

Martinez tried to reflect on the shocking nature of the allegations:

“You hear someone is in the fire department, you have a high level of respect. Just to see that he is doing these things makes you wonder, if you can’t trust the fire department? This is your home. This is your bubble. You want to be comfortable and to have that popped, it’s a rude awakening.”

Yeah — to say the very least.

Here is more on this absolutely horrific and unsettling story (below):

Honestly, we have no other words at this point. What the f**k? Seriously? On all counts.

For more information on violence against women, go to https://www.justice.gov/ovw/resources-for-survivors.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.

[Image via Tarrant County Jail]