A top official with the U.S. Marshal Service office in Washington has been placed on leave after being charged with severely beating his wife, according to court documents.
Sylvester E. Jones, the assistant director of the marshal service’s Witness Security Division, was arrested on May 3 and charged with first and second-degree assault on his wife Alicia Jones.
A day earlier, according to court documents, he hit his wife with his car door at their Accokeek home. He then picked her up and threw her against a parked car, according to police reports. Her head then hit the pavement, knocking her out, a report said.
Jones told The Washington Examiner on Monday that his wife’s allegations have “no credibility.”
“I was set up by the woman I was married to, who happens to be with another guy, and I hope to have it settled in court,” he said.
Charging documents said Alicia Jones told Prince George’s County police that she’s afraid for her life because of the “ongoing abuse” and because Jones is “always armed and wearing his service weapon.”
Court records show Jones and his wife have been in the midst of a divorce since March.
A U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman said Sylvester E. Jones, 50, has been put on leave until after his criminal court hearing, which is scheduled for early next month.
According to charging documents filed in Prince George’s County District Court, Jones’ wife gave police the following account: On the night of May 2, she awoke to him pulling the bed sheets off. Jones then grabbed her cell phone and yelled “got it.” She asked for it back, but he refused and walked to the garage. She followed him. Inside the garage, Jones got into their green Ford Explorer, documents said. His wife placed herself between the open door and the car, and Jones began backing up, knocking the door into his wife.
Jones then got out of the Explorer and “grabbed the victim with two hands under her arms, picked her up and threw her into a parked vehicle in the driveway,” charging documents said. “Victim struck the vehicle with the left side of her body. As she fell to the ground she struck her head on the concrete driveway and momentarily lost consciousness.”
Jones’ wife was taken to Fort Washington Medical Center and treated for “numerous bruises to her arms, neck, back and left leg,” court documents said.
