Updated 6:29 AM Thursday, February 10, 2011

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/agents-councilwoman-had-hand-in-tax-evasion-money-laundering-1077502.html

WEST CARROLLTON — Federal raids Tuesday of the homes, businesses and vehicles of a West Carrollton councilwoman, her ex-husband, their employees and others, is yet another link in the pair’s troubled past.

Investigators outlined in a 79-page affidavit that they have been building a case against their main target, Edward “Ed” Claude Jones, since 2007.

Even after Jones, 53, pleaded guilty to stealing more than $10,000 in merchandise from a Dollar General in 2008, authorities said informants told them Jones was selling stolen property and acted as a “loan shark.”

Records show the investigation also ensnared Jones’ ex-wife, Jody L. Jones, 51, a West Carrollton councilwoman; her boyfriend, Jeffrey A. Carmack, 48; and Edward Jones’ girlfriend, Jana R. Schiebrel, 44.

Jones resigned from council Tuesday evening during City Council's regular meeting.

As members of the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission executed search warrants at locations in Moraine and West Carrollton on Tuesday, authorities arrested Schiebrel on two felony counts of second-degree aggravated drug trafficking in the vicinity of a school or juvenile. She was arrested at 1181 E. Bridle Lane, where she lives with Edward Jones.

Schiebrel was being held on a $50,000 bond in the Montgomery County Jail on Wednesday night.

No other charges have been filed from the raid, but authorities said the Joneses and others could face multiple charges once the case is presented to a federal grand jury.

Authorities declined comment Wednesday about their investigation. Both Joneses declined comment through employees at their businesses.

The Joneses, Carmack, Schiebrel and Sheila Russell-Cook, 55, are named as suspects in an investigation involving drug trafficking, fraud, tax evasion, money laundering and attempted burglaries in Springboro, Toledo and Kentucky.

Before Tuesday’s raid, the Joneses’ legal troubles surfaced when they filed for bankruptcy in 1992 and divorced in 2004. Four years later, Edward Jones was convicted of theft involving a store Jody Jones owned at the time. She was not indicted.

Edward Jones’ life had already begun to unravel in 2007, when an informant told an FBI agent Jones was conducting illegal activities at his Arrow Battery business in West Carrollton.

Agents conducted an undercover operation, in which they first sold Jones fake Timberland boots, Nike shoes and other items.

Agents eventually expanded their operation to sell Jones hundreds of contraband tobacco products and specially altered electronic food stamp benefits cards.

Records show the undercover operation began Dec. 18, 2009, and ended Friday. During this time, authorities say they saw Jones and others shuttle the items between Arrow Battery and Edward Jones’ second business, Inn Between Carryout in Moraine — operated by Jody Jones — and the Joneses’ separate residences.

Agents routinely sold Edward and Jody Jones hundreds of dollars in electronic benefits cards and secretly observed the cards used in purchases at area stores.

Authorities said Jody Jones was a primary user of the electronic benefits cards, which had been altered with fictitious names. Because she was a well-known council member, Jody Jones told an agent she was concerned the stores would ask for identification.

In two encounters with agents, Edward Jones bragged he assaulted a Dayton police officer and stole his badge and ticket book. Police later confirmed the incident.

On two occasions, Edward Jones asked an informant and undercover agent to break into facilities in Springboro and Warsaw, Ky., to steal items for him to resell, records said.