Christopher Scott Jones Wiki – Biography
A mayor in Tennessee has been charged and indicted with stealing more than a quarter of a million dollars from his own grandmother.
Christopher Scott Jones, currently serving as mayor of Mount Carmel in northeast Tennessee, allegedly stole more than $300,000 from his grandmother in the last years of her life between November 2014 and January 2016 by writing checks from her account to himself for false reimbursements.
Christopher Scott Jones Age
Jones age is unknown.
Mayor indicted for stealing over a quarter-million dollars from dying grandmother
A mayor in Tennessee has been charged and indicted with stealing more than a quarter of a million dollars from his own grandmother.
Christopher Scott Jones, currently serving as mayor of Mount Carmel in northeast Tennessee, allegedly stole more than $300,000 from his grandmother in the last years of her life between November 2014 and January 2016 by writing checks from her account to himself for false reimbursements.
The Kingsport Times-News reports that his grandmother passed away in 2016.
“In August 2019, at the request of 3rd District Attorney General Dan Armstrong, TBI Special Agents began investigating allegations of theft against Christopher Scott Jones,” said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after allegedly finding evidence of the fake checks.
Arrested
Theft allegations against Mount Carmel Mayor Chris Jones, which resulted in a $571,000 judgment ruling against him in Hawkins County Chancery Court last year, are now going to be heard in Hawkins County Criminal Court.
On Monday, Jones was served with a sealed Hawkins County grand jury indictment warrant charging him with theft over $250,000 stemming from allegations that Jones embezzled almost $394,000 from his grandmother’s estate in the final year of her life. His grandmother passed away in 2016.
Civil lawsuit allegations against Jones
Jones’ grandmother Marceline Carpenter died on Jan. 2, 2016, in a West Virginia assisted care center.
In March 2016, a lawsuit was filed in Randolph County (West Virginia) Circuit Court by Carpenter’s daughter Barbara Jo Long of Morristown (Jones’ mother), and two of Jones’ uncles, Robert Carpenter and Gary Wayne Carpenter, both of Junior, West Virginia.
The lawsuit alleged that Jones embezzled almost $394,000 from his grandmother’s estate in the final year of her life.
The lawsuit claims that Marceline Carpenter suffered from dementia toward the end of her life, was not competent to sign away her power of attorney or endorse checks, and was in a nursing home as of Feb. 5, 2015.
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After failing to appear in court on the trial date in 2017, Jones was ordered by Judge David Wilmoth to pay his mother and two uncles a total of $571,569, of which $393,939 is compensatory damages; $131,313 is punitive damages; $6,200 is attorney fees; and $40,117 is pre-judgment interest. An additional 7 percent interest will be added annually for the unpaid balance.
In his ruling Wilmoth stated, “The court finds defendant’s conduct reprehensible. Defendant continued in his actions of conversion and embezzlement from his grandmother for a period of approximately one year, draining nearly all of her assets over that time. Defendant must have been aware that his actions were causing, or were likely to cause, harm.”
Jones had contested the West Virginia ruling, stating it wasn’t valid in Tennessee.
In March 2019, Third Judicial District Chancellor Doug Jenkins ruled that the $571,000 West Virginia judgment against Jones is valid in Tennessee and can be collected.
Investigation Report
The Hawkins County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Jones with one count of theft over $250,000 and was arrested and booked into the Hawkins County Jail on a $300,000 bond, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Third Judicial District Attorney General Dan Armstrong told the Times News on Monday that Jones’ arrest stemmed from a yearlong Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe.