FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A former camp counselor accused of molesting three students at an after-school program took the stand Wednesday in his trial.
Michael Jones testified Wednesday afternoon in a Broward County courtroom.
The former camp counselor at Forest Hills Elementary School is accused of inappropriately touching three second-grade girls while supervising them at an after-school program in Coral Springs.
"At any point did you even touch one of these children in a private area?" his defense attorney asked.
"No," Jones replied.
The three girls testified Tuesday. One of them described what happened to her in November 2011.
"He touched -- like, he went under my dress and on top of my shorts, and he touched my, um, privates," the girl testified.
"Did you feel the finger touch your vagina over your clothes?" the prosecutor asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"Did he say anything?" the attorney asked.
"He said, 'Does that tickle?'" the girl said.
"Did you respond?" the attorney asked.
"I said, 'No,'" the girl said.
Jones confessed to molesting the girls during an interrogation five years ago, but he said he felt pressured by the detective.
"I'm giving you a minute to decide whether you want to go the path of denial or the path of letting me know, OK, and why you acted on these things," the detective said to Jones during his interrogation.
Jones faces up to life in prison if he is convicted.