Community Corner

Former 'American Idol' Contestant Jermaine Jones Admits to Misleading Police

The Pine Hill resident was in Gloucester Township Municipal Court on Tuesday to resolve some of the charges against him.

Jermaine Jones sang a different tune Tuesday. 

And this song was in the key of "guilty."

Jones, a former American Idol semifinalist, admitted that he gave a false name to Gloucester Township police when they pulled over a car in which he was a passenger in November 2011. Jones told police his name was "Kareem Watkins."

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"And what is your real name?" Judge Nicholas Trabosh asked in Gloucester Township Municipal Court on Tuesday morning. 

"Jermaine Jones," the singer said with a sheepish grin. 

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For hindering apprehension, Trabosh fined Jones $200, plus $30 in court costs and $125 in related penalties. 

Jones faced a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. 

The judge dismissed a second hindering charge in which Jones was accused of giving a fake name to officers investigating a disturbance call at the on the Black Horse Pike in March 2011. 

A separate charge of driving with a suspended license against Jones was not resolved Tuesday. 

His attorney, Terrell A. Ratfliff of Camden, said outside court that he expected the charge to be dismissed within the next 30 days. 

Jones, a Pine Hill resident, was from the 11th season of American Idol in March, after the show's producers learned of his past brushes with the law, and that there were active warrants for his arrest. 

The imposing 25-year-old singer—all 6 feet, 8 inches of him—appeared in court Tuesday dressed simply, in a striped polo shirt and jeans, with reddish streaks running through his short dreadlocks. 

Outside court, he was upbeat about his future. 

"I'm glad most of it's taken care of," he said of his recent legal troubles. "And I'm grateful to all my fans who've stuck by me." 

Jones just released a new R&B single, "All Around the World," featuring the rapper Free-Stal. The song is available for download on iTunes. 

Jones is starting his own record label, and is branching into acting. He's been cast in the independent film, The North Star, which is shooting on location in Bucks County, PA. The film, about an escaped slave who joins the Quaker abolitionist movement, also stars former Philadelphia Eagle Jeremiah Trotter. 


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