Principal Rooney Question

[Eirik]

I had heard that the guy who played Rooney on Ferris Bueller - I think it's Jeffrey Ruck, or something like that - was busted for child molestation and was going to jail for a long time.  Since he's appearing in the new episodes of Deadwood this season, I obviously heard a rumor or exaggeration.  Does anyone know the real story - if there is one?

[AndyC]

You're mixing up a couple of actors' names from FBDO. It's Jeffrey Jones.

As I recall, he was arrested for hiring a minor to pose for some dirty pictures. Wasn't really a kid, so much as a teenager. If I'm not mistaken, he pled no contest. I think the sentence might only have been a couple of years, but I don't really remember.

Sad. I liked him in movies. Had a nice weasely look about him. Pity he's so creepy in real life.



Post Edited (03-24-05 19:26)

[Eirik]

That is a pity...

I've been real good about completely disregarding an actor's personal shortcomings and wack-job opinions and enjoying their work for what it is...  

I guess it would depend.  If the teen was mature looking and he might have believed the person was 18, I can deal with that...  If it was a kid who looked like a kid, then I really can't look past it.

[Ellie]

Yeah..Jeffrey Jones is one of the regulars on HBO's Deadwood.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Smoking Gun has a write up and mugshot:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0702041jones1.html

[AndyC]

Gotta love those mugshots. He looks like a monster. Mind you, he's got years of heavy drinking to credit for looking like that.

[Eirik]

The kid was 14 years old - since I can't think of any 14 year old I ever met who looked like they might be 18, and since he pleaded no contest, I'll conclude he probably didn't think the kid was an adult.  I guess the probation instead of jail time had something to do with the kid consenting to take Jones' money and apparently no physical contact between the two.

Still, pretty sick.  I hope the authorities watch him like a hawk for the rest of his life.  You just hear too much about kids being raped and sometimes murdered by these people with prior histories of lesser "warning-sign" type offenses.

[Menard]

The arrest stems from failure to register a cahnge of address as a convicted sex offender. It stems from an incident in November of 2001. The 14 year old was a boy, of whom he is said to have taken explicit photos, and apparently paid the boy. That's all I have on this topic.

BTW, I have read that Rooney was the Principal and Dean of Students. For some reason I had thought he was a Truant Officer.

[ulthar]

Eirik wrote:

> and since he
> pleaded no contest, I'll conclude he probably didn't think the
> kid was an adult.  

The plea of no contest is not a guilty plea.  If you plead no contest, it means you believe you will be convicted if the case goes to trial - there is sufficient, credible evidence to convict.

Tecnically, it means you can be innocent of a crime but have a lot of evidence against you.  Usually, this evidence is in the form of witness testimony (like a kid claiming to be molested).  In others words, ALL it means is that Jeffrey Jones did not think he could win the case.

Perhaps a minor detail, but a plea of "Guilty" means you did it; a plea of "No Contest" means you cannot win, even if not guilty.

[AndyC]

Menard wrote:
> BTW, I have read that Rooney was the Principal and Dean of
> Students. For some reason I had thought he was a Truant
> Officer.

Nope, he just acted like one, and only for one special case.