Ex-rep, mayor given tax-evasion sentence

Sandwiched between his stints as mayor were 12 years as a House member.
YOUNGSTOWN (AP) -- A former state representative who twice served as mayor of Ravenna in Northeast Ohio was sentenced Friday in federal court to 16 months in prison for not paying taxes on income from a private business.
Paul H. Jones pleaded guilty in January to five mail fraud charges and three of filing false tax returns. Jones, 56, could have faced up 18 months based on federal sentencing guidelines.
U.S. District Judge Peter Economus considered a document filed with the court in which Jones made his case for a lenient sentence that considers his many years in elected office. He also considered letters written on Jones' behalf.
Jones "took responsibility and expressed remorse for actions that tarnished a 30-year career," said his lawyer, John McCaffrey.
The charges allege he failed to pay taxes dating back to 2001 on income from his son's landscaping business, P.J. Jones Lawn Mowing Service. Jones operated that service and had a contract with a local housing and economic development group that had Jones as a board member.
Paying the bill
Jones told the court he has paid 50,000 to the IRS and has begun paying penalties and interest. He used a loan from his brother, Thomas Jones, to make the lump-sum payment. He also has amended his state and city tax returns and paid more than 19,500.
Jones was 24 in 1975 when first elected mayor of Ravenna, about 40 miles southeast of Cleveland. The Democrat was elected to his first term in the Ohio House in 1982 and lost a bid for re-election to a seventh term in 1994. He returned to the Ravenna mayor's post by winning election the following year.
Jones resigned as mayor at the end of 2005 and relocated to Bradenton, Fla., where his wife found a job. The judge accepted McCaffrey's suggestion that Jones be allowed to serve his sentence near Pensacola, Fla., where there is a minimum security facility that houses males.
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