Website publisher defends post about Sarah Jones | News

COVINGTON, KY (FOX19) -- Former BenGal cheerleader Sarah Jones was back in Covington's Federal Courthouse on Wednesday and cross-examined in her defamation lawsuit against TheDirty.com. 

Jones is suing the gossip site and the owner, Hooman Abedi Karamian ('Nik Richie'), claiming statements posted on the site about her in 2009 were false and harmful to her reputation. Among the statements made on the site was that Jones had a sexually transmitted disease.

Jones says the statements have been very devastating, leaving her extremely depressed.

The posts on the website were made in 2009, before Jones plead guilty in 2012 to having sex with a teenage student while she was a teacher at Dixie Heights High School.

Nik Ritchie says his TheDirty.com website gets more than 1000 submissions a day, and he says its "not my job to fact check the site."

Richie testified that Jones's appearances on national television and at community events made her a public figure. Public figures trying prove defamation have a higher burden than those who aren't in the public eye.

On Tuesday, jurors heard new details from a text message exchange between Jones and the student. Jones texted him that it was 'love at first sight' when he walked into her classroom for freshman English and that she knew they would be together one day.

Attorneys for the website say her relationship with the teen proves she's sexually immoral, and she's to blame for her tarnished reputation.

Copyright 2013 WXIX. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.