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By Carey Phillips
Veteran Sylva attorney Tom Jones is free after posting bond on
state and federal charges involving money laundering and embezzlement.
The Jackson County grand jury indicted the 60-year-old Jones on
Sept. 30, and a federal grand jury followed suit on Oct. 6.
He is charged with 14 state counts of embezzlement and 20 federal
charges including conspiracy to commit theft of government funds,
misappropriation of federal money, mail fraud and money laundering.
Jones appeared before District Court Judge Danny Davis at a 96-hour
hearing Friday morning at the Jackson County Justice Center. He
requested a court-appointed attorney, and John Parton of Whittier
was named to represent him.
Jones was arrested Wednesday, Oct. 8, and taken by Federal Bureau
of Investigation agents to Charlotte for an initial hearing before
Magistrate Judge Carl Horn.
The former attorney for Jackson County, former member of the county
Board of Elections and former county Bar president was released
from federal custody on his personal recognizance.
He was released from state custody Friday afternoon after posting
a $64,000 bond.
Jones is on the calendar for the Nov. 10 term of Jackson County
Superior Court. No federal court date has been set.
The charges against Jones allege that he embezzled more than $300,000
from the guardianship account of Woodrow Justice, a mentally disabled
World War II veteran. Jones was appointed as Justice's guardian
in 1969. He is believed to have taken money from the account starting
as early as March 1986 and continuing through December 2000, according
to authorities.
Also indicted on federal charges is Brenda Seagle, who worked
as legal secretary for Jones from the mid-1980s through April
of this year. She was not taken into custody, but a court summons
will be issued against her at a later date, according to Sue Ellen
Pierce of the U.S. District Attorney's Office.
Jones was convicted in April on federal charges of bank fraud,
making false statements to a federally-insured bank and conspiracy.
He is awaiting sentencing on those charges, which stemmed from
his part in helping former Sylva car dealer Chig Cagle obtain
illegal loans from Blue Ridge Savings Bank.
The N.C. State Bar suspended Jones's law license in August.
Cagle, a former Jackson County Republican Party chairman is also
awaiting sentencing in that case. He pleaded guilty in September
2001 to defrauding the bank, founded by Republican Congressman
Charles Taylor, of more than $1 million in the early 1990s.
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