Investment fraud trial of Family Court Judge Jones continued again

A federal judge Wednesday continued the investment fraud trial of suspended Family Court Judge Steven Jones until Sept. 30.

Jones and five other defendants, including his former brother-in-law Thomas Cecrle, were to stand trial June 3 before U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey on an array of charges, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.

But defense lawyers for all of the defendants except Jones complained that they were having problems downloading documents provided electronically by the government and weren’t prepared to go to trial next week.

Assistant Federal Public Defender William Carrico, who represents Cecrle, said the delay was “in the best interest of justice.”

In granting the continuance, Dorsey scheduled several status hearings with lawyers in the coming weeks to ensure the trial will not be delayed again.

Federal prosecutors did not oppose the continuance, the fourth since the six defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2012 in what prosecutors said was a decade-long, $3 million scheme.

In the indictment, prosecutors alleged Jones used the power of his office to further the investment scheme, which occurred between 2002 and 2012, and intervened on Cecrle’s behalf to prevent or delay legal processes against him.

Last month, prosecutors said they had evidence that Jones “used his position and influence” as a judge twice in 2006 to get Cecrle released on his own recognizance in a felony bad-check case, though local prosecutors had asked that he be kept in jail on no bail.

Freeing Cecrle allowed the investment scheme to move forward, prosecutors alleged.

Jones, 56, first elected to Family Court in 1992, has been suspended with pay since the federal indictment. He is not running for re-election, but is eligible to continue receiving his $200,000 annual salary until the end of the year.

In February, the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline suspended Jones without pay for three months, finding that he had violated professional rules of conduct by carrying on a romantic relationship with the late former prosecutor Lisa Willardson while she appeared before him in 2011.

Willardson was found dead at her Henderson home Dec. 26, and the coroner later concluded she died of an accidental drug overdose.

The commission has given Jones an additional 90 days to respond to another misconduct complaint.

That case, launched in 2006, includes allegations Jones was involved in several investment schemes, associated with felons, improperly handled drug evidence and once had an “intimate relationship” with a law student who worked for him.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ.