School employee charged with rape

By JOSH NEWTON

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS March 13, 2008 05:51 pm

— A Tahlequah Public Schools employee was charged in Cherokee County Wednesday for first-degree rape of a 16-year-old female student.
A warrant was issued Wednesday for Jermell Montrice Combs, a maintenance employee at TPS.
The state alleges Combs had sex with the girl on or about Feb. 19.
A probable cause affidavit filed by Tahlequah Police Detective Dale Glory says Combs told detectives he has worked for TPS for about a year, delivering mail and paper, and handling other odds-and-ends duties throughout the TPS sites.
TPS Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Denver Spears said Combs is under suspension as routine procedure.
“We have recommended his termination as an employee,” said Spears. “He will have a right to request a hearing before the board of education. If no request is made by the end of the day March 26, he [will be] duly dismissed then.”
According to the affidavit, the victim told a detective she first met Combs about a year ago at her mother’s office when he brought supplies to the building. The victim told police she waits in her mother’s office for classes to begin at the Tahlequah “boot school.”
The victim recalled that on Feb. 18, Combs came into her mother’s office while the girl was there, and before leaving, he asked her if she’d ever kissed or dated older men. The girl told him she had, and Combs left.
The next morning at the same office, Combs arrived and asked the teenager to go to the boot school early. When she arrived on campus, Combs flagged her down. He unlocked a door on another school building, and the two entered the boys’ bathroom. According to the victim, nothing was said, and she and Combs engaged in sex.
Glory said in his affidavit the victim stated she never asked Combs not to touch her or to stop what he was doing.
The victim said she and Combs thought they heard someone in the building, and that Combs told her no one could know about the incident.
The victim said she became afraid she may be pregnant, so she reported the incident.
First-degree rape is a felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state penitentiary not less than five years. Assistant District Attorney Gregory Combs is prosecuting the case.