Former Kansas Driving Instructor Sentenced to Probation

A former Kansas driving school instructor has been sentenced to three years of probation for having a 16-year-old student drive to a country road and inappropriately touching her.

The Emporia Gazette reports that Robert Jones, of Emporia, also was ordered to register as a sex offender and repay the victim’s family for the driving classes when he was sentenced Wednesday for sexual battery. He faces a 12-month jail sentence if he violates the probation terms.

The victim’s mother said her daughter wanted to die after the August incident and was hospitalized after taking two handfuls of Tylenol. She says her daughter is in counseling.

Jones said he was “deeply sorry” and “messed up on a lot of things.” He was the director of the since-terminated UDrive Kansas driving school.