Judge accused of misconduct, faces indictment in fraud scheme

Special prosecutors with the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline filed a 12-count complaint late Friday against Family Court Judge Steven Jones accusing him of misconduct during a romantic relationship he had last year with a prosecutor who appeared before him.

The complaint accuses the longtime judge of violating Nevada's Judicial Code of Conduct in his handling of the relationship, first disclosed in a 2011 Las Vegas Review-Journal story.

The prosecutor, former Deputy District Attorney Lisa Willardson, "actively litigated cases" in the judge's courtroom while the relationship was taking place, and Jones failed to disqualify himself from cases involving her, the complaint alleges.

The code, designed to maintain the public's confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, among other things requires a judge to refrain from allowing personal relationships to influence his conduct on the bench.

Last month, the commission suspended Jones, 54, with pay while he faces a federal indictment in what authorities allege was $3 million investment fraud scheme. He is free on his own recognizance in that case.

Former District Attorney David Roger had asked the commission to investigate the relationship between Jones and Willardson.

Roger removed Willardson from handling child abuse and neglect cases before Jones after the relationship became public in October 2011 and appeared to invite a professional conflict of interest for both Willardson and the judge.

The Review-Journal reported last that Jones had sent Roger a message threatening to ban all prosecutors in the district attorney's child welfare unit from his courtroom unless he backed away from shipping Willardson out of the unit.

Two other deputies in the unit had helped expose the romantic relationship with Willardson.

Roger stood his ground and removed Willardson anyway. He later fired her.

One of the counts in the Judicial Discipline Commission's complaint alleges Jones violated the Judicial Code of Conduct by interfering with Roger's effort to move Willardson out of the child welfare unit.

Another count alleges that Jones violated the rules of impartiality when he subsequently banned Deputy District Attorneys Michelle Edwards and Janne Hanrahan, the two whistle-blowing deputies in the unit, from his courtroom.

The complaint accuses Jones of further misconduct by directing Brigid Duffy, a former hearing master under his supervision, to disqualify herself from hearing child abuse cases brought by Edwards and Hanrahan.

Jones also is accused of helping Willardson prepare a legal document for the State Bar of Nevada. Roger had filed a complaint against Willardson with the bar over her relationship with Jones.

The complaint alleges Jones directed his law clerk and judicial assistant to help in the preparation of the document "on government time and/or with government assets."

All of the misconduct occurred between October 2011 and this past July, the complaint alleges.

By law, Jones has 20 days to answer the charges, and the commission must hold a hearing within 60 days after the response is received.

Attorney James Jimmerson, who represents Jones before the commission, could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Willardson said the charges against Jones are the product of a "political witch hunt by a vindictive and biased group."

She said she never litigated another case before Jones after she first met him for lunch, and video recordings of the judge's courtroom support her statement.

Jones, 54, first elected to Family Court in 1992, was charged in the federal indictment with using the power of his office to carry out the investment fraud scheme over a decade. The scheme is alleged to have begun in 2002.

Among those indicted with Jones is his former brother-in-law, Thomas A. Cecrle Jr. They and four other defendants face several charges, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.

The indictment alleges that between September 2002 and October 2012 the defendants persuaded people to loan them money under the false guise of quick repayment with high rates of interest.

When investors became disgruntled and questioned the legitimacy of their investments, the indictment alleges, the defendants lulled them into a false sense of security by referring them to Jones, who used his stature as a judge in vouching for Cecrle and the investment scheme, knowing it was a fraud.

The judge is alleged to have met with investors "in chambers, over the telephone and elsewhere," and to have intervened on behalf of Cecrle to prevent or delay legal processes against him.

According to the indictment, Jones took calls from Cecrle in chambers, drafted and reviewed documents associated with sham investments, and received cash from the scheme at the courthouse where he heard cases.

Jones and Cecrle kept a joint bank account used to launder more than $250,000 in proceeds from the fraud, the indictment alleges.