Judge Jones, Cecrle finally indicted on investment fraud charges

Family Court Judge Steve Jones finally has some serious explaining to do about his relationship with former brother-in-law and suspected con man Thomas Cecrle.

The Review-Journal reported this morning on its website that the FBI is conducting search warrants in a criminal investigation that includes Jones and Cecrle. They have been indicted, a source told reporters Jeff German and Francis McCabe. The U.S. Attorney's office has just released a statement on the indictment of the judge, Cecrle, and others on fraud charges.

In July 2006, I focused on one of several disturbing developments associated with Judge Jones and his wayward family relative.

Two columns on the subject follow.

From July 12, 2006:

If a man is known by the company he keeps, then Family Court Judge Steven Jones has some serious explaining to do.

Jones' recent arrest on a domestic battery charge involving his live-in girlfriend Amy McNair shed light on the personal life of the highly rated Family Court veteran. Last week's hearing to determine whether to extend a temporary protective order in the battery case revealed Jones' gambling habits, tempestuous relationship with family members and significant others, and his friendship with former brother-in-law Tom Cecrle, a convicted felon currently facing methamphetamine possession and bad check charges. Cecrle has also been a defendant in numerous lawsuits stemming from unpaid loans and questionable business practices.

One of those controversial deals hits Jones extremely close to home -- or at least close to the judge's chambers.

When Cecrle sought investors in a supposed real estate deal involving the billionaire Richard Branson for a sliver of prized Strip frontage property, he found willing partners in Gene Isaacs and Mike Eckert. The three created a company using their initials called GITCME.

It's become clear to Isaacs and Eckert that the real estate deal was a dud. In interviews, both said they lost substantial sums to Cecrle -- but each differs on the role Judge Jones might have played in the questionable transaction.

Jones has referred questions to his attorney, James Jimmerson, who admitted Tuesday he was still getting up to speed himself. Through Jimmerson, Jones said he has associated with Cecrle but has not participated in any of his former relative's controversial business schemes.

See for yourself if that passes the smell test.

Isaacs, an octogenarian and private pilot, claims Jones was a partner in the deal. Jimmerson denied Jones was a partner, but admitted the judge was contemplating joining GITCME.

"He was intending to be an investor, that's what I understand, but it never came to be," Jimmerson said.

But Isaacs said he was so convinced of Jones' involvement in the deal that he agreed to issue the judge an American Express credit card as part of a business account.

Initially, Jimmerson said it was his understanding that Isaacs had loaned Jones money to address a medical issue. In a later interview, Jimmerson said he'd spoken again with his client, who said he'd used the Isaacs-issued credit card.

A sample of the expenditures from Jones' portion of a July 2003 American Express bill: $301.37 for a watch, $227.37 for men's clothing, $1,150 for Tommy Hilfiger jeans, and $127.63 for items marked "spring seasonal" from Dillards-Henderson. The bill also included hundreds of dollars for groceries, hundreds more for clothing, and expenditures in Hawaii in excess of $4,300.

Total expenses for the period in question: $9,494.63.

Jimmerson said Tuesday that Jones has settled all outstanding financial issues with Isaacs. Isaacs, meanwhile, has yet to get satisfaction from Cecrle and is angry with the judge.

"I was gullible," Isaacs said. "I admit that. But I relied on the credibility and reputation of the judge to make my decision. In retrospect, that was a big mistake."

Isaacs said his repeated attempts to recover his investment from Cecrle led him to ask Judge Jones to intervene in 2003. Jones admitted he drew up a memorandum of understanding and confession of judgment in which Cecrle promised to pay Isaacs $2 million to satisfy all their outstanding financial obligations. The document was notarized by Jones' secretary, Connie Avila.

Eckert, who also received an Isaacs-issued American Express card, said he was present for a business discussion in the judge's chambers and lost a substantial, but unspecific, sum of money to Cecrle. But Eckert denied Jones was a partner in the deal and calls Isaacs vindictive.

"I haven't talked to Cecrle in a long, long time, and I wrote him off," Eckert said Monday. "I think Tom suckered (Jones) like he did everybody else."

Business was discussed in Jones' chambers under his nose. Jones benefited from the misguided generosity of one of the partners. Jones drew up the legal settlement between Cecrle and Isaacs, which isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

If he wasn't a business partner and wasn't acting as a judge, was he practicing law?

Judge Steven Jones has some serious explaining to do.

If not to law enforcement authorities, then at least to the voters who elected him to sit in judgment of others.

From July 30, 2006:

At times, Dr. Richard Oliver must feel like the Strip's biggest sucker.

By his accounting he lost $130,000, and he didn't even set foot in a casino.

As a retired physician-turned-real-estate developer in Colorado, Oliver was part of a group of investors who were conned into believing Thomas Cecrle had secured a prime slice of Strip frontage, a piece so valuable that billionaire Richard Branson just had to have it to complete his own casino vision on Las Vegas Boulevard.

The story was full of more hot air than the Mojave desert in July. Today, Oliver is out the money and remains bitter at being taken in by Cecrle, a felon who has been in the news lately due to his continued relationship with embattled Family Court Judge Steven Jones.

Through his attorney, Jones has denied any involvement in the controversial deals of either Cecrle or D. Victor Hancock, another felon the judge has befriended. The problem is that the facts and witnesses keep getting in the way of the judge's version of events.

Jones charged thousands of dollars on a business credit card linked to Cecrle's shenanigans. The American Express card was taken out by Southern Nevada resident and Cecrle victim Gene Isaacs, who accuses the judge of working hand in hand with the alleged con man.

But because Oliver never set foot in Las Vegas, the question is whether he can establish a link between Jones and Cecrle.

It appears he can.

Although he never had a face-to-face meeting with Cecrle or Jones, Oliver clearly recalls someone identifying himself as the judge twice taking the phone during business conversations with Cecrle. In a recent interview, Oliver said he believed Cecrle was using the judge to bolster his credibility.

Cecrle made it clear the investors would have access to the judge's professional connections, Oliver said. He recalled Cecrle telling him, "If there's any glitch, we have a judge in our pocket."

This doesn't mean Cecrle was telling Oliver the truth. Cecrle's veracity is more than suspect these days. But it is one more troubling question for the judge.

Meanwhile, the FBI made its interest in the case known when agents sat in on a recent court hearing to decide whether to extend a temporary protective order involving the judge's ongoing domestic battery case. Although the bureau's local office has no comment, it's obvious the agents weren't interested in the judge's domestic dispute with former live-in girlfriend Amy McNair.

What the agents heard surely increased their interest in whether Jones has abused his public office for personal gain. An increasing number of witnesses have been coming forward to tell of the Jones-Cecrle relationship in connection with real estate schemes from the Strip to Mexico. Could the feds be looking at possible mail fraud, wire fraud and even money laundering charges?

The judge is scheduled to appear Sept. 13 in Henderson Municipal Court before Judge Ken Proctor on the domestic battery and temporary protective order violation charges. With Jones' connections to Cecrle's dealings growing more complex, those misdemeanor charges are beginning to look like the least of his worries.

Oliver was introduced to the "investment" by another man and in all sent $130,000 through the pipeline and down the drain to Cecrle for a deal that turned out to be worthless. Cecrle also told Oliver he held not only the Strip property, but valuable land in Arizona and mining equipment as well.

Others who have done business with Cecrle have come away with holes in their pockets, too.

"I'm surprised someone hasn't sent a couple guys after them," Oliver said of Cecrle and another man he believes is a partner. "I think he's a gambling addict. He takes the money and gambles it away."

To call him bitter is a bit of an understatement.

"If I find him, I'm going to beat his brains in," Oliver said.

Considering the octogenarian Isaacs' $800,000 in estimated losses and other "investors" who were taken by Cecrle for more than $250,000, Richard Oliver could be considered one of the lucky ones.

But something tells me he's not feeling all that fortunate.