Steven Jones Judge says he tried to find attorney for former brother-in-law Thomas A. Cecrle Accused in legal dispute involving real estate investiment

Embattled Judge Steven Jones has ties to a man who has two felony criminal cases pending against him and has been the subject of at least five financial demands or judgments in District Court in the past five years.

And one of the people who alleges Jones' former brother-in-law owes him money also alleges Jones, Clark County's chief family court judge, played a role in the unusual transaction.

During a June 30 hearing related to a domestic violence charge against Jones, his former girlfriend testified that FBI agents had asked her whether Jones was associating with known felons. Her lawyer questioned Jones about his relationship with Thomas A. Cecrle of Las Vegas.

Cecrle is Jones' former brother-in-law. Jones testified he tried to find Cecrle an attorney while Cecrle was in jail.

According to Henderson police records, Cecrle was arrested April 12 at the Rainbow Casino on a charge of battering his ex-wife. When he was arrested, Cecrle had methamphetamine in his pocket and was charged with drug possession, police reports said.

Cecrle also was recently jailed in Las Vegas on bad check charges.

In addition to trying to help Cecrle with his legal troubles, Jones played a role in attempts to resolve a financial dispute between Cecrle and a Las Vegas investor, Gene Isaacs.

Jones' role in the matter raises questions about his ethics, an ethics expert said.

Isaacs says he lost $800,000 in a real estate investment involving Cecrle and a Colorado man, and he alleges that Jones is partially to blame.

Jones drew up a $2 million confession of judgment that Isaacs and Cecrle signed in the judge's chambers.

Isaacs said Jones led him to believe the document would resolve the dispute and ensure that Cecrle paid Isaacs. Isaacs said he signed the legally binding document without having a lawyer review it because he put his faith in the judge.

A confession of judgment is a written agreement in which liability is admitted and the amount that must be paid is agreed upon. It can be filed as a court judgment if the payment is not made.

Jones' assistant notarized the October 2003 document signed by Cecrle and Isaacs.

Craig Walton, president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics, said Jones' involvement in the $2 million agreement between Isaacs and Cecrle raises ethical questions.

Walton noted that the public pays for the judge's office and pays his executive assistant's salary, meaning only the public's business should be conducted in the judge's chambers and the executive assistant should only be handling the public's business while on the clock at the courthouse.

Walton said the use of Jones' office could be perceived as an endorsement of the resolution between Isaacs and Cecrle.

"It looks like sponsorship, some kind of endorsement," Walton said. And if Jones knew of Cecrle's prior financial troubles, it would have been more prudent to avoid being involved at all, Walton said.

"He had discretion to distance himself from this whole situation and tell Mr. Cecrle and Mr. Isaacs to go someplace else. 'I'm too close to this.' ... If I had a brother-in-law with a history like that, I would ask Mr. Isaacs to run like hell."

But Walton said, Jones can argue he was trying to help Isaacs by facilitating the financial resolution. Whatever his reasoning, Jones' participation "certainly raises questions that need to be discussed and answered," Walton said.

Isaacs also alleges that, while it isn't spelled out in any legal documents, Jones had a financial interest in the land deal and was the one who convinced Isaacs to invest in it.

Isaacs, who is in his 80s, said he never saw the land that was supposed to be purchased. "I took Judge Jones and Cecrle's word for it," Isaacs said.

Isaacs said during the initial stages of the investment deal, Jones and Cecrle represented to him that they were in the process of securing the land on the Strip and that they had $100 million in escrow in the bank, but they needed money right away to secure the deal.

"Judge Jones said it was the real deal," Isaacs said.

Cecrle then asked Isaacs for $37,500 cash in exchange for a $500,000 promissory note. Isaacs wouldn't give him the money, so Cecrle offered to have Jones sign a promissory note, Isaacs said. Isaacs said if Jones signed the note, he would give Cecrle the money.

Isaacs said Cecrle left his house and returned with the promissory note with Jones' signature. Isaacs said he then gave Cecrle the cash.

The note was never paid, and when Isaacs asked Jones about it, Jones at first said he had signed the note, but later said his signature had been forged, Isaacs said.

After the first payment to Cecrle, Isaacs said, he continued to give Cecrle and Jones money, including use of credit cards in Isaacs' name. Jones charged thousands of dollars but later repaid Isaacs approximately $34,000, Isaacs said.

Jones' lawyer, James Jimmerson, said Isaacs helped Jones with medical bills and loaned money that he repaid.

Cecrle, meanwhile, gave Isaacs a $175,000 check as repayment, but it bounced at Isaacs' bank, Isaacs said.

Jones' lawyer acknowledges the financial disagreement between the judge's former brother-in-law and Isaacs was settled in the judge's chambers and the legal document intended to settle that disagreement was drafted by Jones.

But, Jimmerson said, Jones did not have a financial stake in the failed real estate deal.

"Judge Jones is not a party to any legal contract or relationship between Mr. Isaacs and Mr. Cecrle. That is between those two gentlemen," Jimmerson said. "Judge Jones is clearly not responsible for Mr. Cecrle's own personal business dealings."

Intervention by Jones on Cecrle's behalf is also alleged in another case. Cecrle faces charges that he passed at least $43,000 in bad checks to another Las Vegas Valley man, Ely Ades, in February 2005.

Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Bernie Zadrowski said Monday that Ades told him Jones asked Ades to hold off on prosecuting Cecrle and that Ades would be reimbursed for the bad checks.

"The victim informed the DA's office that the judge asked him to hold off on the filing of the criminal complaint," Zadrowski said. "The judge had vowed for Cecrle that it was going to be paid off."

But Ades was never paid back, so he sought prosecution of Cecrle, Zadrowski said.

Zadrowski noted that "in no way did the judge ever request anything from the district attorney's office or even communicate with us."

According to a court filing, an entry of default was filed against Cecrle over a $37,000 promissory note in 2000.

Another confession of judgment was filed against Cecrle over a $234,000 debt. Yet another case against Cecrle alleged that he failed to pay back a personal loan of $27,300.

Jones has his own charge to face. Henderson police arrested the judge on June 20 on a charge of battering his former girlfriend, Amy McNair. He has denied the allegation, and another judge said during a hearing two weeks ago he believes McNair was the aggressor in the incident.

The misdemeanor charge against Jones is pending in Henderson, where police records show officers had been called to Jones' home numerous times in four years.