[Mr. Laz]

Former KU athletics fundraiser Rodney Jones sentenced to 46 months in federal prison

By Mark bundle of sticksan


Wichita — The former leader of fundraising for Kansas University athletics was sentenced Thursday morning to nearly four years in prison for taking part in a $2 million ticket scheme that illegally delivered thousands of tickets for KU basketball and football games to brokers and others.
Rodney Jones, who had led the ticket office for Kansas Athletics Inc. before becoming assistant athletics director for the Williams Fund, was sentenced Thursday to 46 months in federal prison. He had pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

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Jones also must pay all or part of nearly $1.2 million in restitution to Kansas Athletics, and alone is responsible for paying nearly $114,000 to the Internal Revenue Service to cover unpaid federal taxes, U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown ruled.
Brown sentenced Jones in U.S. District Court in Wichita, where a day earlier he’d sentenced one of Jones’ former colleagues — Kassie Liebsch — to 37 months in prison. It’s also where five other former colleagues already have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme, which prosecutors say lasted for five years before all resigned in the wake of a scandal that a KU investigation said cost the department more than $3 million.
Jones said he wanted to "deeply apologize" to federal authorities, Kansas Athletics, all Jayhawk fans, as well as his family, friends — and, especially, to his son, Parker.
"I have made a terrible mistake that I will continue to pay for for the rest of my life," Jones said.
Like Liebsch, Jones had faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. But federal sentencing guidelines suggested that Jones should get between 46 and 57 months in prison.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence at the low end of the guidelines, while Jones and his attorney had urged a sentence of probation, community service, house arrest or placement in a halfway house.
In court documents, Jones maintained that he should receive consideration for probation because of his cooperation with prosecutors and investigators — including special agents from the FBI and IRS, and with the Kansas Board of Ethics — and so he could begin paying restitution sooner and fulfill his parental duties.
Jones and four former colleagues — Liebsch, Ben Kirtland and Charlette and Thomas Blubaugh — also share responsibility for a $2 million monetary judgment, which allows the federal government to pursue their finances and other assets to pay restitution. All have pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and the Blubaughs and Kirtland still await sentencing.
Two other former co-workers — Jason Jeffries and Brandon Simmons — earlier had pleaded guilty to failing to report the crime to authorities. Brown placed them on probation.