Felony charges that Jones plead guilty to, along with the possible sentences, include:
- Theft between $1,000 and $7,500: 134 counts, $2,500 fine and six to 12 months in prison per count
- Theft from elderly/disabled: one count, $2,500 fine and six to 12 months in prison per count
- Theft from elderly/disabled/service member: 15 counts, $5,000 fine and six to 18 months in prison per count
- Cruelty to Companion Animals: three counts, $2,500 fine and six to 12 months in prison per count
- Failure to file state income tax: two counts, $2,500 fine and six to 12 months in prison per count
- Engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity: one count, $15,000 in fines and two to eight years in prison per count
Misdemeanor charges that Jones pleaded guilty to, and their possible sentences, include:
- Cruelty to companion animals: 21 counts, $1,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail per count
- Theft: four counts, $1,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail per count
Jones is scheduled to be sentenced March 14.
Jones was indicted along with Jennifer Lynn Long, 39, of Huber Heights and Tabatha Lee Taverna, 47, of Dayton for a scheme that defrauded customers by failing to provide dog training and abused and neglected the animals they were paid to care for, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
The charges revolve around Dayton Dog Trainer, a business owned and operated by Jones that claimed to provide obedience training for dogs and support animal training.
However, a lengthy investigation by the Miamisburg Police Department found that the animals were returned to the owners untrained, often covered with feces and with obvious signs of neglect and maltreatment, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said when announcing the charges.
The investigation began after Randy Reed of Miamisburg placed his two 6-month-old bernedoodles Emmy and Bailey — a cross between a Bernese mountain dog and a poodle — in Jones’ care. After the first two weeks of a contracted month of training for $4,000, Reed said he found his dogs at Jones’ property staked in a field, filthy with a rash and clear weight loss. He did not bring the dogs back for a second two-week session and didn’t get his money back for the extra weeks.
Reed then took to social media and found a dozen people with similar experiences and brought that information to the Miamisburg Police Department.
The investigation identified more than 65 dog owners who paid the business more than $200,000.
“I don’t think he wanted to face a jury,” said Reed of the guilty plea, who added that there were a lot of budget-restricted people Jones ripped off, and that some of the victims had to put dogs down, had dogs with new or worse behavior issues or had dogs that are now afraid of people.
Reed said his own dogs had to go through a lot of actual training to overcome the damage but were doing pretty well now.
“Bailey is still a little fearful of people and probably always will be but we keep working on it,” Reed said.
He said that after the yearslong process of the investigation and filing charges, it felt good to see the guilty plea.
“It’s very satisfying and I’m thrilled to death,” Reed said, adding that he is thankful and happy for all the hard work put in by the prosecutor’s office and Miamisburg police, particularly detective Sgt. Jeff Muncy.
“Justice was served, he’s a convicted felon” Reed said, a charge he said would follow Jones the rest of his life.
When it came to the possible sentence he said that there was a lot of victims who would like to see Jones in prison for a long time, but there was a possibility that it would involve having Jones pay restitution to the people he had defrauded instead of a long incarceration.
“I am fine with it, if that’s what happens, because I know there’s a lot of poor people that need the money,” Reed said. “We’ll see what happens at the sentencing.”
He added that any of the other victims from that case who want to appear or make a victim’s impact statement should notify the prosecutor’s office and get their statement in before the Feb. 28 deadline.
Other victims include Melissa McClure of Springfield who previously said that she left her French bulldog Tater dog with Jones for five weeks because the dog had an issue with small children and other dogs.
When the dog was returned, McClure said she was shocked.
“He was dirty beyond belief, stunk to high heaven, had hair missing all over him — patches on his cheek, on his flank. Skin and bones. You can see all his ribs. You could see his back hip bones. It looks like this man filed my dog’s teeth down,” she said.
The dog required multiple baths and veterinary care, along with a caution that he likely will need ongoing dental care for tooth decay.
“I’m convinced if he would have been there another week, he wouldn’t have made it,” she said.
Dale and Mary Beth Kidd of Washington Twp. also left a dog with Jones for training, a 2-year-old European German shepherd named Nico, who had a problem with barking at other dogs.
After a week of training with Jones in November 2023, Nico’s behavior worsened and he started to growl at people before snapping at the couple’s 42-year-old niece. When they contacted Jones, he convinced the couple Nico had some deep-seated issues and would train him for another week, for an additional $1,000.
“When we got him back the second time, he’s hiding, he’s shaking, even more aggressive,” Kidd said. The dog attacked the niece again, this time causing injuries that required six stiches on her hands.
Both of Jones’ co-defendants Long and Taverna were indicted for one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Long was also indicted on four counts of theft and one count of cruelty to companion animals, and Taverna also was indicted on three counts of theft, one count of theft from an elderly or disabled person and two counts of cruelty to companion animals.
Both are scheduled for a jury trial on March 3.
