By Drew Winchester
Charlotte Sun
NORTH PORT — The woman dubbed ‘Black Widow’ by Sarasota authorities was once a corrections officer at the Charlotte County Jail, serving roughly six months with the agency before resigning amid allegations that she had a romantic relationship with one of the inmates she was assigned to guard, according to an internal affairs investigation from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.
Janeene Lea Jones, 49, of the 4400 block of Boeing Lane, North Port, was arrested by the Sarasota Police Department last week and charged with two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Authorities say she attempted to hire an undercover detective and pay them $8,000 to murder her current husband and a tenant.
According to a report, Jones wanted her current husband killed to collect on a life insurance policy. Jones reportedly told the ‘hit man’ -- really an undercover Sarasota police detective -- the best kill method and how to thoroughly clean the crime scene. She wanted her tenant killed because of an ongoing civil case and didn’t care if the tenant’s 11-year-old daughter was home during the murder, the report states.
But between August 1997 and February 1998, she worked at the Charlotte County Jail, coming under fire in late February of that year after an inmate alerted Jones’ supervisor that she had been passing notes to another inmate named Christopher Proper, the report states. Proper’s cell was eventually searched and Jones’ supervisor found ‘numerous’ letters written to Proper in Jones’ handwriting, while Proper was incarcerated at the Pasco County, Fla., jail. The report adds that the letter-writer referred to herself as ‘Lisa’ in the letters, and included a photograph of Jones.
The report states that Proper was transferred to Pasco County on Jan. 21, 1998, and the first letter from Jones was dated Jan. 23, and included the line, ‘When I came to work on Friday I didn’t see your cute smiley face.’ The letters continued through Feb. 10, 1998, when Proper was returned to Charlotte County. It was around that time that Jones gave another inmate a note to pass to him, according to the report.
Jones also had a relationship with Proper’s parents, receiving phone calls from Proper at their home, and referring to Proper’s mother as ‘mom’ in the letters, the report states.
Jones was placed on administrative leave following the discovery and would eventually be called in to be interviewed as part of the investigation, but resigned from her post on Feb. 25, 1998. She made $22,245 annually.
Jim Melo, a former CCSO jail commander and one-time sheriff’s candidate, was Jones’ commanding officer during that stretch. While he didn’t remember Jones specifically, he said relationships often develop between inmates and officers.
Jones received high marks on her test scores while training to become a corrections officer, and boasted several references from neighbors and friends. She also had a reference from Punta Gorda Police Detective Jim Kirdy, who said via Capt. Thomas Lewis that he did not recall Jones, despite the reference. North Port resident Charlotte Krasinski, indicated as a friend of Jones in her application material, declined to comment when reached by phone.
Born Janeene Lea Monsell in Tawas City, Mich., Jones would marry twice before marrying Max Jones, who died of natural causes in 2011. Sarasota police previously reported they received tips that Max died under suspicious circumstances and the North Port Police Department is looking back at the case, although Chief Kevin Vespia said he didn’t know what they would find.
Jones was previously married to two local men, Albert Campbell from 1983-1984, and Phillip Wallace Stauderman from 1985-1991. Neither man could be reached for comment.
Sarasota County property records indicate that Max and Janeene shared mortgages in 1993, 1999 and 2007.
Jones’ Naples, Fla.-based attorney, Landon Miller, did not return phone calls for comment. Sarasota Police Department spokeswoman Officer Linda DeNiro did not provide any updates on the case, and Jones denied the Sun’s request for an interview at the Sarasota County Jail, where she remains without bond. She is scheduled to be arraigned on March 22.
Copyright 2013 Charlotte Sun
Distributed by Newsbank, Inc. All Rights Reserved