Plea deal results in probation

A former associate minister at Second Baptist Church in Las Vegas was placed on probation Thursday for his role in the theft of federal grant money.

The Rev. McTheron Jones, 73, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson a day after the judge sentenced the church's former pastor, the Rev. Willie Davis, and the pastor's wife, Emma, for participating in the theft and a related cover-up.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Rene Valladares said Jones has learned a "lesson of shame" from the criminal case, which followed a lifetime of community service.

"We had a good man stumble, and we had a good man stumble hard," the defense lawyer said.

Jones and the Davises were indicted in September 2005 on federal fraud charges after authorities accused them of enriching themselves with about $330,000 from a grant they obtained under false pretenses. Jones was the first to accept a plea agreement.

Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to theft of government property. Emma Davis and Jones also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, and Willie Davis pleaded guilty to making false statements to a government agency. In addition, Emma Davis pleaded guilty to misuse of a Social Security number.

Some 60 people packed Dawson's courtroom Wednesday as he sentenced Willie Davis to five years of probation and Emma Davis, who had a prior felony conviction, to two years in prison.

The judge said Jones must spend three years on probation, pay $7,925 in restitution and perform 40 hours of community service.

Jones served in the U.S. Navy from 1951 to 1974 and saw combat in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Jones said he has been involved in community service since leaving the military.

Jones said he was brought to Nevada in 1976 by then-Gov. Michael O'Callaghan to work as an intern in state government. Jones graduated from San Diego State University that year with a master's degree in rehabilitation, with an emphasis on drug addiction.

He later worked for the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. He was a probation officer for the state Division of Parole and Probation from 1984 to 1991. He then worked part time for the Community College of Southern Nevada, where he helped set up classes in the prison system.

Jones apologized in court Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Marsh said Jones pleaded guilty in 2003 to a gross misdemeanor charge of wrongful exercise of official power for falsely claiming, in connection with his job at the community college, that he had a doctorate. Jones entered a type of guilty plea that required him to admit only that prosecutors could prove their case against him.

Valladares said that case, prosecuted in state court, was related to the federal case.

Jones said he became associate minister at Second Baptist Church, 500 W. Madison Ave., in 1991 and left after the criminal allegations arose. He said he joined a new church and is not affiliated with the Davises.

According to the indictment in the federal case, the defendants obtained a Justice Department grant in 2002, through a nonprofit agency called Alliance Collegiums Association of Nevada, to operate halfway houses for prison inmates in Southern Nevada. Jones became assistant director of the agency, which never opened any halfway houses.

Dawson ordered Willie Davis, 70, to pay a $5,000 fine and $2,900 in restitution.

The judge ordered Emma Davis, 53, to pay a $5,000 fine and about $11,600 in restitution. He also ordered her to perform 100 hours of community service.