By Marci Piltz
Record-Courier staff writer
Never one to turn away from cameras in the past, former Ravenna Mayor Paul Jones did not seem happy to see a Record-Courier photographer as he exited the main gates of Cleveland Hopkins Airport flanked by Portage County Sheriff's deputies.
"Don't you think 100 pictures is enough?" Jones said to the photographer.
Jones, 57, declined to comment further as he stood handcuffed between Capt. John Ristity and Det. Danny Burns.
Dressed in a white shirt and navy dress pants, the brown leather belt connected to Jones' wrist cuffs stood out as other passengers waited to collect their baggage.
"Who is he? Are we going to be on "Dateline" or something?" one curious woman asked.
Another man asked, "Is he someone famous?"
Most Portage County residents may consider Jones somewhat famous.
Fresh from his release from a federal prison facility in Pensacola, Fla., the former mayor and six-term state representative is now beginning a 14-month state prison sentence. Both the federal and state charges against Jones stemmed from activities involving his son's landscaping business and Jones' involvement with the business during his tenure as mayor.
Jones served as Ravenna mayor from 1976 to 1982, when he left office to serve six terms as a state representative. He served as Ravenna's mayor again from 1996 to 2005, when he left office mid-term and moved with his family to Bradenton, Fla.
Approximately one year later, following months of speculation, Jones was indicted on federal charges including three counts of filing false tax returns and five counts of mail fraud. Jones pleaded guilty in January 2007 to all of the charges and was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison by Judge Peter C. Economus of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio in Youngstown. Jones also was ordered to pay restitution, including taxes owed and penalties, on $162,287 of income from 2001-03 which Jones had failed to report to the IRS.
One week later, a Bill of Information against Jones was filed in Portage County Common Pleas Court charging Jones with three counts each of having an unlawful interest in a public contract and filing incomplete or false tax returns and four counts of filing false financial disclosure statements, all felonies.
He pleaded guilty to all 10 charges at an April 9, 2007 hearing in Portage County Common Pleas Judge John Enlow's courtroom, and was sentenced the same day to 14 months in state prison. Enlow ordered that sentence be served consecutive to the federal sentence rather than concurrently.
Ravenna attorney Terry Kane filed a motion on Jones' behalf in June seeking to delay Jones' report time to the Ohio prison on the grounds that he needed time for medical, dental and psychological exams as well as to spend time with his family.
Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci argued all those services are provided at both the federal and state prisons, and noted Jones' federal time served in Florida was done so at his request to his family.
Enlow overruled the motion within hours of hearing the oral arguments from Kane and Vigluicci.
Portage County Sheriff Duane Kaley said Jones was to be taken straight from the airport to the Lorain Correction Facility, where he would be processed into the Ohio prison system.