Man jumped fence, tried to lure 7-year-old at Tamarac Catholic school, BSO says

A man was arrested after he jumped the fence at a Catholic school in Tamarac and tried to lure a 7-year-old girl on the playground, authorities said.

Yakine Amar Jones, 26, was arrested Friday on charges of luring or enticing a child under 14, criminal mischief, burglary of an occupied structure, and interference with school administration functions, Broward jail records showed.

According to an arrest report, Broward Sheriff’s deputies had responded to reports of a suspicious person on school grounds at St. Malachy Catholic School on Northwest 61st Street.

Deputies were told a suspect had jumped a perimeter fence at the school and stood in the playground area with student, and the deputies searched but couldn’t find the suspect, the report said.

They were able to review surveillance footage that showed a suspect, later identified as Jones, jumping over a perimeter fence and a second fence around the playground area, the report said.

Several students ran away in fear as Jones got behind an exterior wall near the playground as he appeared to try to conceal himself, and a short time later a 7-year-old student approached him and the two appeared to have a conversation, the report said.

As Jones was speaking with the student, he lifted his shirt slightly and touched his “upper pubic area” as he had a “visible erection,” the report said.

A staff member was alerted to Jones’ presence and confronted him, and he fled the scene on foot, the report said.

Officials said the 7-year-old girl was too frightened to recall what Jones said to her on the playground.

Investigators were able to identify a vehicle Jones fled in and tracked him down, before detectives began surveillance of Jones and found him wearing the same clothes as the person in the video from the school, the report said.

Jones was taken into custody and gave a partial confession, admitting that he entered the school grounds without permission and that he was the person in the surveillance video, but he made contradictory statements and offered multiple fabricated explanations for his presence at the school, the report said.

Jones was booked into jail and was being held on a $36,000 bond, records showed.

Court records showed Jones was arrested in 2022 on charges of traveling to meet a minor, using a computer for child exploitation, battery and obstruction without violence but prosecutors declined the case.