Ex-Everman firefighter gets life in prison for orchestrating home-invasion rape
A Tarrant County jury this week took 20 minutes to sentence a former Everman deputy fire chief to life in prison for his role in orchestrating a home invasion and rape, officials said.
Joel Jones, 54, admitted Monday to hiring a man to rape a woman he knew as part of a role-play fantasy.
Jones falsely told the man, 31-year-old Tobasia Griffiths, that the woman consented to the attack, and paid Griffiths $100 to carry it out, according to a statement from the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office. On Feb. 21, 2025, Jones helped Griffiths go to the victim's house in Fort Worth, enter the home and violently assault her.
Griffiths later told detectives he didn’t realize the sexual encounter was non-consensual until a few days later when Jones messaged him to tell him police were investigating. Griffiths was sentenced to 10 years’ probation in May.
The woman, a devout Catholic, escaped after kicking Griffiths and striking him with a lamp, according to the statement. Within days, Jones tried to arrange another sexual assault and kidnapping of the same woman after receiving a recording of the previous assault from Griffiths, prosecutors said.
After the attack, 30 Fort Worth police officers and personnel volunteered to pack the victim's belongings and move her to a safe place, the DA’s Office said.
Jones pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault, and the jury trial was held to determine his punishment.
“One man’s depravity was on full display this week in the Tarrant County Courthouse,” Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said of the case.
The case was prosecuted by Tarrant County Assistant District Attorneys Kim D’Avignon and Melinda Hogan.
Prosecutors told the jury that Jones repeatedly said he wanted to break the victim and “strip her of the faith that anchored her,” the DA’s Office said in a news release.
“There is evil in our world and it’s sitting right there,” D’Avignon told the jury, pointing at Jones. “He wanted to take the most precious part of her and break it. ... We cannot have that in our community.”
“We proudly ask for a life sentence,” D’Avignon said. “There has never been any more evil than has walked in this room.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM.
