Local Man Escapes Prison Time After Making Threats With Gun

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A St. Cloud man accused of pistol-whipping a woman several times over the last several months has avoided jail time.

A Stearns County judge has sentenced 32-year-old Jawaanza Jones to a stayed sentence of four years in prison. He'll be on probation for five years and gets credit for having served 171 days in the county jail.

Jones pleaded guilty to a felony charge of threats of violence in exchange for five other charges to be dropped, including three 2nd-degree assault charges.

St. Cloud Police officers were called to the 500 block of 14th Street South on January 3rd for a report of a man with a gun. Officers met with a man who said he was inside an apartment with a woman when Jones broke down the door, racked a handgun, and pointed it at everyone. Jones is then accused of pistol-whipping the woman in the head and telling everyone to leave.

When police made contact with the victim, she would not allow the officers inside the apartment and said nothing had happened.

Two days later, the victim called the police to report domestic abuse. She told officers that Jones had been punching and hitting her over the past six months because he feared she was cheating on him. The woman showed officers lacerations on her head and bruises and swelling around her eyes.

The victim estimated she had been pistol-whipped 20 times over the six-month time period.