Stephen Jones, photo via Facebook, under Section 27A of the Copyright Act.
Normally my crime articles go under the heading “You in a heap o’ trouble, boy,” or sometimes “girl,” in homage to that iconic southern expression, but, alas!, Mr Stephen Jones, formerly Democratic Leader of Philadelphia’s 59th Ward, is in far less of a heap o’ trouble than he should be for his offense.
I guess that he has friends in high places!
Philly ward leader convicted of sexually assaulting his granddaughter is sentenced to about a month in jail
Stephen Jones will spend around a month in jail and two decades on house arrest. “I hope the devil comes to you,” the victim’s mother said in court Thursday.
by Jesse Bunch | Thursday, May 22, 2025 | 7:55 PM EDT
A West Philadelphia Democratic ward leader who resigned after being convicted of sexually assaulting a minor will spend about a month in jail, rather than the years prosecutors had sought, a judge ruled Thursday.
Stephen Jones, 80, was sentenced in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to three to four weeks in jail, about the time it will take to be processed for the 20 years of house arrest he was also ordered to serve, in a hearing where harrowing details that had previously gone unreported about the case came to light.
No, of course The Philadelphia Inquirer did not include the pedophile’s photo! I had to search that internet thingy Al Gore invented to find it!
In 2023, Jones was arrested for molesting his granddaughter at home while they were watching a Disney movie, according to prosecutors.
Jones formerly led the city’s 59th Ward and was once closely tied with the nonprofit Philadelphia Alliance Against Drugs and Violence, though he has not been involved with the group for about a decade, he said.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, in a rare instance of seeking a harsh sentence, sought to have Mr Jones locked up for 16 years, as his pre-teen victim suffered real trauma:
“He took away her innocence, he took away her bodily autonomy, he took away her privacy, he took away her trust in others,” said Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Gimaro in reference to the victim. . . . .
Heavy emotion soon spilled over in the sparsely attended courtroom; upon hearing the ruling, the victim’s mother — whom the Inquirer is not identifying to protect the victim’s identity — burst into tears. She was later allowed to approach the bench.
“This man has destroyed my daughter’s life,” the woman yelled in Jones’ direction. “He harmed my kid.”
The woman told the court her daughter had to change schools and experienced suicidal ideation after Jones molested her. The girl was not present in the courtroom.
Nevertheless, Common Pleas Judge Tracy Brandeis-Roman sentenced Mr Jones basically to house arrest, citing his age and medical condition, which includes a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer.
“I do not give him a pass in any way, shape or form” for the assault, (Judge Brandeis-Roman) said in justifying the ruling. “But in front of me is an 80-year-old man who takes 14 medicines, who is undergoing chemotherapy, and who has zero prior record.”
If he’s undergoing chemotherapy, he won’t be confined to his home, but be taking monthly journeys to the hospital. And, at 80-years-old, Mr Jones would normally be spending much of his time at home anyway.
I admit to being somewhat torn on this. Mr Jones deserves to be punished harshly, and needs to be punished harshly, but it’s also true that it will be far less expensive for the Commonwealth to confine him to his home, as opposed to having to provide the health care he requires. Sadly, he was caught too late in life.
“There are two Stephen Jones,” (Assistant District Attorney Kelsey Gimaro) said. “The community leader, the man who donates money, volunteers with children,” and the Jones who is “sexually attracted to children.”
Who “volunteers with children,” huh? Shades of Jerry Sandusky! We do not know whether Mr Jones actually molested anyone other than his granddaughter, but upon reading that paragraph I have to ask the obvious question: did Mr Jones molest other children, or was this the first time he was caught? In the end, I have to come down on costing the Commonwealth more money, to making Mr Jones last years ones of greater suffering, to punish the suffering he inflicted on at least one pre-teen girl. Instead, the judge gave him as much of a break as he could possibly get.