A former Hennessey police lieutenant was charged with a misdemeanor Friday for allegedly allowing his daughter’s boyfriend to live with him while knowing he was a registered sex offender.

Michael Shawn Jones, 50, was charged in Kingfisher County District Court with harboring a sex offender, a misdemeanor that carries a possible sentence of up to a year in the county jail and a $500 fine.

Dustin Michael Tyler Rice, 29, was charged Friday with failure to register as a sex offender and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, both felony offenses.

Rice was identified in court documents as the boyfriend of Mahala Jones, a former police dispatcher and Jones’ daughter. Mahala Jones has not been charged.

The firearms charge is based on the allegation that Rice had access to “miscellaneous firearms” at the Jones residence, according to court documents.

According to an affidavit signed by Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Shults, the sheriff’s office was contacted by Hennessey Police Chief Hank Weber Jan. 1 reporting that Rice and Mahala Jones were living with Jones at his residence at 408 N. Cherokee and had been for the last three to four months.

Rice was convicted of indecent exposure in Grady County in 2015 and was registered as a sex offender with a Guthrie address, according to court documents.

Although he was required by state law to register with the sheriff’s office when he moved to Kingfisher County, Rice failed to do so, the affidavit alleges.

According to the affidavit, Jones told the sheriff’s office he had advised Rice to wait until he and his daughter found a house to move into before registering his new address.

Jones was hired as a fulltime Hennessey police officer in September 2018 and then promoted to lieutenant last June.

Mahala Jones was hired as a Hennessey police dispatcher last April and then appointed as a reserve police officer at the June town board meeting.

She resigned her employment in July and then rescinded her resignation and was rehired by the town board in August.

After meeting in closed session Jan. 9, the town board voted without explanation to reassign Jones from the police department to the street department for 90 days, with the possibility of extending that time after an evaluation.

At the same time, Mahala Jones was reassigned from police dispatch to the town’s administrative office for the same 90-day period with an option to extend.

A phone call to the town administrator concerning Michael Jones’ current employment status was not returned as of press time Tuesday.

Michael Jones declined to comment when contacted by the Times & Free Press on Tuesday.