Ex-Teacher Charged With Lewd Conduct

Twin Falls, Idaho A former Filer high school teacher accused in Twin Falls County of repeatedly molesting a boy in the 1980s - many times at Mormon Church and Boy Scout functions - now has been charged with sex crimes in two other counties.

Ronald Alan Jenkins, 52, faces at least three felony charges of lewd conduct in Custer and Franklin counties, LaMont Anderson, a specially appointed prosecutor who heads the child-abuse resource team for the Idaho attorney general’s office, said Wednesday.

The new charges involve the same alleged victim as earlier charges in Twin Falls County, where a grand jury indicted Jenkins in March on three counts of lewd conduct.

Prosecutors filed additional charges this month after the alleged victim told an investigator Jenkins molested him at least nine times in six Idaho counties, according to an affidavit from Jackie Atkins, criminal investigator with the Idaho attorney general’s office.

Jenkins quit his teaching job in the fall of 1994 and was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had been a member of the Filer Stake’s High Council.

Jenkins has been free since his father posted a $20,000 bond in June so Jenkins could live with his parents in Gooding. He has pleaded innocent to the Twin Falls County charges and a trial is scheduled to begin April 30.

A preliminary hearing in Custer County is scheduled for Nov. 20. Jenkins has yet to appear in court in Franklin County.