JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — We’re learning more about the case against a Jacksonville teacher charged with lewd and lascivious behavior with a student.
That case could be moving toward a plea deal, according to court records.
Newly released records in the criminal case against former Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Department Chair Jeffrey Clayton include text messages with the student and recorded jail calls with his wife.
In an March 2023 interview, the student in question tells detectives she’s been texting with her vocal coach Jeffrey Clayton since the beginning of the school year.
She said he kissed her several times and caressed her body during one-on-one singing lessons and at a car wash fundraiser.
After his arrest, Clayton appears calls his wife from jail, appearing to learn about the charges against him for the first time.
WIFE: “You’re being charged with two felony counts.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “Of what?”
WIFE: “Lewd and lascivious behavior with a student and improper use of a two-way device.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “Wow.”
WIFE: “And apparently they seized your phone and there’s more than a thousand text messages to this student.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “How do you… they sent you that?”
WIFE: “Yes.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “Oh….”
Clayton presses her to get his belongings from the school, but it’s too late.
WIFE: “I asked about your bag. They have confiscated your computer and your laptop and your iPad.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “Oh my God."
WIFE: “And the FBI was in your office looking for evidence.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “The FBI?”
WIFE: “Yes.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “For what?”
WIFE: “I don’t know, Jeff.”
His wife also presses him on the legitimacy of the charges, suggesting there have been prior instances.
WIFE: “I’ve come to bat for you so many times of you telling me things didn’t really happen and things weren’t true, and they were just after you, but I need to know, is this true?”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “Is what true?”
WIFE: “The fact that you made passes at her, advances at her, something DCF [Department of Children and Families ]would have to investigate.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “I really don’t, I can’t talk about it right now.”
In another police interview, the student speaks directly. First Coast News is not identifying her or using that interview audio.
The texts between the two range from conversations about movies to Clayton telling the teen he loved her.
In the files released by investigators, Clayton texts the student to send photos of her nails and feet after a trip to the salon.
He repeatedly calls her “intoxicating” and reminds her to continue deleting their text thread.
Clayton’s next court date is in less than two weeks on Sept. 19.