Voluntary Surrender For Child Porn Possession Conviction

A petition for voluntary license surrender has been accepted by the Georgia Supreme Court

In his petition, Jones, who has been a member of the Bar since 2003, admits that, on July 24, 2024, he entered a guilty plea in the United States District Court to two felony charges of Possession of Child Pornography. See 18 USC §§ 2252 A (a) (5) (B) and (b) (2). By this conduct, Jones acknowledges that he violated Rule 8.4 (a) (2)1 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d). See Rule 1.0 (e) (1). The maximum penalty for a violation of Rule 8.4 (a) (2) is disbarment. Jones seeks to voluntarily surrender his license to practice law, which he acknowledges is tantamount to disbarment.

Monroe Local News reported

Former Loganville Councilman Austin O. Jones of Jones Law Firm was indicted Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020 on charges of sexual exploitation of children after a True Bill was handed down by a Walton County Grand Jury. 

The charges stem from a Federal Bureau of Investigation case back in 2015 when his home and office was raided by FBI agents as part of a federal investigation. At that time, Jones was represented by local attorneys Eric Crawford and David Boyle but is reportedly currently represented by Atlanta attorneys Pate, Johnson and Church. We are currently awaiting a response from their office.

Jones has been indicted on eight counts of sexual exploitation of children according to the indictment which was filed in Walton County Superior Court yesterday. Although these charges stem from almost five years ago, the indictment notes that they were not discovered until May 8, 2017 and are outside of any statute of limitation period due to the statewide Judicial Emergency issued by the Supreme Court as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Jones resigned his seat on the Loganville City Council in 2008 after his family had moved outside of city limits. He was recently elected to serve on the Board of Governors of the Georgia State Bar to serve on Post 2, the Alcovy Judicial Circuit covering Newton and Walton counties. His appointment was to succeed his father who recently passed away.

(Mike Frisch)