Judge denies early release for Jasper High School aide on sex charge

The expected release after four months of shock time for former Jasper High School aide Janice Rusk never came to pass,

Online Jasper County Circuit Court records indicate Judge David Dally denied the early release and ordered that Rusk begin serving her seven-year sentences for statutory rape and statutory sodomy.

Dally had originally placed Rusk, who will turn 45 on Thursday, in the Sex Offenders Assessment Unit (SOAU), a program that has come under fire for providing early releases to 300 sex offenders, approximately 30 percent of whom were arrested again for sex crimes.


When the four-month program ends, the judge has to decide whether to go ahead with the sentence or to place the defendant on probation.

The charges against Ms. Rusk, an aide in the special education department at the time of the alleged incident, were spelled out in the probable cause statement from Detective Ed Bailey of the Jasper County Sheriff's Department:

On March 26, 2014, I was advised by Children's Division and the Jasper, Missouri, Police Department of incidents of sexual contact between Janice Lorene Rusk (an adult) and several juvenile males.

I made contact with D.S., a 16-year-old male on April 2, 2014. During an interview, D. S. said that on a day in the first week of December 2013, he had deviate sexual intercourse and sexual intercourse with Rusk.

D. S. explained that he had been texting Rusk for a while an they agreed to meet on a bridge at the west edge of B. S.'s family property on Baseline Blvd. in Jasper County.

After Rusk arrived at the location and told D. S. that he could not tell anyone about the event, Rusk stroked his bare penis with her hand. After this action, Rusk removed her pants; D. S. removed his pants and they engaged in sexual intercourse. D. S. stated this ended with him ejaculating.

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