Councilman Jones Charged With Felony
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – Crockett City Councilman Darrell Jones turned himself in to law enforcement authorities Thursday, Nov. 21 to be officially be processed after a Houston County Grand Jury indicted him on two charges, one a third-degree felony.
The dramatic turn of events came after the grand jury in the 349th judicial district determined Jones would be charged with two indictments:
In cause 14CR-181, Jones was charges with failure or refusal to provide public information, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine, up to six months in county jail, and is considered “official misconduct.”
According to the indictment sent to The Messenger by Houston County District Attorney’s office, Jones “as an officer for public information, or the officer’s agent, with criminal negligence, failed or refused to give access to, or to permit or provide copying of, public information to a requestor, namely, Dolcefino Consulting.”
As reported in The Messenger, Wayne Dolcefino filed an official complaint with county officials July 29, claiming their requests for records from Jones had not been complied with. Jones had sent city officials a letter stating he would not comply with any requests for his “private records,” something the grand jury found was a violation of his responsibility to provide records as an elected official in a timely manner.
In the second count, Jones was indicted for the class three felony of Misuse of Public Information. This charge comes with between two and ten years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine, although depending on the charge and the defendant’s criminal history, can include many punishments, including probation.
The indictment in this cause, 24CR-189, states Jones, “as a public servant, namely a Crockett City Council member, and with intent to harm or defraud another, disclosed to Greg Ritchie for a non-governmental purpose, information to which the defendant had access because of the defendant’s office, and which information had not been made public, namely a letter of intent for Project Atticus.”
While The Messenger will not reveal all of the details of the situation in order to not harm nor help either side in pending litigation, it can be revealed Ritchie received a grand jury subpoena for records and information about communications with Jones. Not fully understanding the nature of the investigation and wishing to respect our sources and methods, we denied law enforcement this request, under well-established precedent provided by legal authorities, as high as the Supreme Court.
After realizing a crime had perhaps been committed and not wishing to hinder an investigation, Ritchie did eventually turn over information about certain communications, which apparently led the grand jury to determine some of that information should not have been sent by Jones.
Reports indicate Jones learned of the indictments while out of the state, but immediately agreed to return and present himself at Houston County Sheriff’s Office for processing. Jones did come and was quickly bonded out on a $7,500 total bond for the two counts.
No word or comment about the matter has been received from Jones, although most defendants are warned against speaking about pending criminal litigation. As of press time, it was unclear what the charges mean for Jones and city council, if he will be able to represent the city’s second precinct during the trial or while out on bond. There was also no word on what penalty prosecutors might seek in the case. Houston County District Attorney Donna Kaspar will be retiring at the end of the year, and much of the case will no doubt fall to incoming DA Daphne Session.
Although Jones is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, no one with a felony conviction can serve on city council. As no trial date has been set, it is also not known if Jones will seek a plea arrangement with prosecutors or fight to prove his innocence in court, and if found innocent and charges dropped, be able to continue to serve in city council for as long as the voters re-elect him to that position.
The Messenger receives thousands of tips, documents and information from our readers and public officials. Even though we follow up on most of these leads, we rely – in the case of elected officials, especially – on them to only provide us with information they are legally able to release. We take our journalistic responsibilities seriously, and only agreed to turn this information over to authorities when we were convinced that withholding it might contribute to or conceal a crime.
Stay tuned to The Messenger for updates on this breaking story.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
