A former West Greene teacher and coach was taken back into custody today at the conclusion of a bond revocation hearing in Greene County Criminal Court.
Now 45 year old Jacob Columbus Deal of Rogersville was indicted in May 2023 on three counts related to an alleged relationship with a 14-year-old female student in 2021. Deal pleaded guilty to one count of statutory rape last November 18th and was sentenced to ten years in prison with a 30% release eligibility. He had posted $50,000 and remained free pending appeal of the Court ruling which required him to be registered as a sex offender and made incarceration mandatory rather than alternative sentencing. That ruling also required an additional $25,000 bond.
Deal appeared with his attorney before Judge Alex Pearson prepared to pay the additional bond amount while planning to continue a potential appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court. And while that appeal could still happen, it will do so with Deal back behind bars. Friday he was ordered back before a judge for violating terms of the sex offender registry, when he attended a flag football game in which his daughter was participating in Hawkins County.
While Deals attorney Matthew King argued his client had followed requirements to remain free on bond, Judge Alex Pearson agreed with the argument District Attorney Emily Burnett that Deal had violated Tennessee Code Title 40–11-113 Section 4 –
“If any person admitted to bail pending appeal is indicted for or convicted of a separate felony offense while released on bail, the bail shall be revoked and the defendant committed immediately.”
As the judge ordered Deals bond be revoked, he appeared surprised by the decision and turned toward family and/or friends in the gallery, but was quickly taken into custody by Courthouse Deputies Charles Morelock and Pete Violette and Detective Lieutenant Michelle Holt to begin serving his sentence at the Greene County Detention Center until which time he is transferred to a state facility.
