Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that Paul H. Jones, the Mayor of Ravenna, Ohio, from January 1976 to January 1982 and again from January 1996 through December 2005, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Peter Economus to 16 months imprisonment. Jones, age 56, now resides at 11205 Parkside Place, Bradenton, Florida. Jones had pleaded guilty on January 11, 2007 to five counts of mail fraud and three counts of filing false tax returns.

Jones, while Mayor, deprived the citizens of the City of Ravenna of the intangible right of Jones’ honest services by concealing a conflict of interest arising from his secret interest in his son’s lawn mowing business. As Mayor, Jones made decisions affecting the funding of Neighborhood Development Services (“NDS”) which, in turn, hired Jones’ lawn mowing business. Jones also failed to report much of the income from that business on his federal tax returns.

During the time that Jones was Mayor, NDS was a non-profit Ohio corporation which was formed in 1985 (then known as Ravenna Development Corporation) to pursue the development of affordable housing, an improved downtown and a stronger local economy. NDS Management, funded by federal grants that passed through the City of Ravenna, was a for-profit company that provided management services to properties owned and operated by NDS.

From 2001 through 2004, Jones operated and received income from PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service, a sole proprietorship in the name of Jones’ son, that mowed lawns and removed snow for NDS, NDS Management, CED Corporation and other customers. NDS, NDS Management and CED Corporation paid PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service approximately $262,068 from 2001 through 2005. Jones knew that in his capacity as Mayor of Ravenna, he had a conflict of interest as a result of the income he received from PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service, and the fact that he participated in official acts that affected NDS and its related entities.

Jones intentionally attempted to conceal the conflict of interest described above by (1) reporting income (although not all the income) from PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service on his son’s tax returns (resulting in application of a lower tax rate on the income) and (2) intentionally failing to report his interest in and his income from PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service on his annual Ohio Ethics Commission Financial Disclosure Statements for the years 2001 through 2005.

Ohio law required Jones to file with the Ohio Ethics Commission annual Financial Disclosure Statements. The Disclosure Statements required Jones to list (1) every source of income received in a calendar year, (2) the names under which he or other members of his immediate family did business, and (3) the names of each corporation, trust, partnership or association transacting business in Ohio in which he had an investment of over $1,000. For the purpose of executing the scheme to deprive the citizens of the City of Ravenna of the intangible right of Jones’ honest services, Jones mailed from the City of Ravenna, Ohio, to the Ohio Ethics Commission in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio Ethics Commission Financial Disclosure Statements in which he knowingly failed to list his income from PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service and also failed to list PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service as a name under which he or a member of his immediate family did business.

On the following dates, Jones filed tax returns that were false in that he did not report a substantial amount of his net profit from PJ Jones Lawn Mowing Service:

As part of his plea agreement, Jones made a $50,000 payment to the IRS towards his liability for taxes, penalty and interest.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ann C. Rowland following investigation by IRS, the FBI and the Ohio Ethics Commission and with the cooperation of Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigliucci.