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LAS VEGAS — (Reuters) - A longtime Nevada state court judge pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal conspiracy charge in a plea deal that cost him his elected position, his law license and is expected to get him 27 months in prison for his role in a decade-long investment fraud that prosecutors said reaped more than $2.6 million.
Steven Jones stood in a dark suit before U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey, raised his right hand to swear he was telling the truth, and admitted accepting cash at least once in 2007 in the parking lot of the Family Court in Las Vegas where he was first elected to the bench in 1992.
Jones, 56, admitted abusing his position to vouch for the credibility of his ex-wife's brother, Thomas Cecrle Jr., and a claim that Cecrle was a secret contractor for the federal Department of Homeland Security who could turn small investments into hundreds of millions of dollars by buying and selling water rights in the Southwest U.S.
Prosecutors Steven Myhre and Daniel Schiess dropped 19 conspiracy, fraud and money laundering charges in return for Jones' guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Trial had been due to start later this month. Jones could face 33 months in federal prison, but the prosecutors said they'll seek 27.
With a representative of the Nevada State Bar in the courtroom gallery, Jones and his attorney, Robert Draskovich, promised the judge they would submit Jones' resignation letters to the Bar and to Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Dorsey noted that a federal prison sentence cannot be shortened by parole. She scheduled Jones' sentencing Jan. 26.
Suspended Las Vegas area family court judge Steven Jones, right, walks out of federal court with his attorney Robert Draskovich Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, in Las Vegas. Jones pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in a decade-long investment scheme that prosecutors alleged reaped some $3 million. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The plea signaled an end to a three-year fall from grace that included Jones' suspension from the bench — at first with his approximately $200,000 salary, and then without — for failing to recuse himself from cases involving a prosecutor who appeared before him while they dated.
The romance became public in October 2011 when a photo was made public showing Jones' hand touching Lisa Ann Willardson's leg beneath the table at a public function. Willardson, who denied the two had an improper relationship, was found dead last Dec. 26 at her home in Henderson. She was 45.
The Clark County coroner ruled Willardson's death an accident, caused by a lethal combination of prescription medications.
Cercle and three other co-defendants — Constance Fenton, Mark Hansen and Terry Wolfe — were also scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday.
Another former co-defendant, 30-year-old Ashlee Martin, pleaded guilty Aug. 11 to conspiracy to commit money laundering and agreed to testify against the others in return for her placement in a one-year pretrial diversion program that could get the case against her dismissed.
Federal prosecutors said in the plea agreement that 22 investors were victimized in the scheme between 2002 and 2012. Money that was promised to yield high rates of return was instead used by Cercle, Jones and others for living expenses and gambling.
Draskovich said Jones' resignations from the bench and Bar make moot another Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline inquiry.
Investigators had begun looking early this year into allegations that Jones associated with ex-felons, improperly handled drug evidence, and failed to disclose a prior intimate relationship with another woman who appeared in his courtroom.
