DALLAS — A Dallas police officer has been indicted by a Dallas County grand jury in connection with an alleged pyramid promotion scheme, along with two other people, officials said.
Reginald Jones is accused of recruiting other officers and civilians into a "gifting circle," according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Jones was indicted on a charge of pyramid promotional scheme, a state jail felony, according to the Dallas County District Attorney's Office.
Jones' arrest warrant affidavit from October said he asked participants to pay $100, $500 or $1400 dollars using CashApp and told them to bring at least two participants into the gifting circle and they would make money.
In an interview with police, Jones "confirmed there is no exchange of good or services for the money participants pay into the scheme," according to the affidavit.
Jones involved at least 159 participants and made more than $48,000 in money transfers, the affidavit said.
Jones was arrested in October, and police announced that 12 other officers were under investigation in the case.
The other officers were not indicted, and in some cases, sources say, their cases did not go to the grand jury because they cooperated with the investigation.
The officers who were not criminally charged have been told they can come back to work while their cases go through the Internal Affairs division to see if they violated any department policies.
Jones' attorney, Christopher Know released the following statement.
“This is an unfortunate case, and one where the officers charged did not do anything different than thousands of other people did during the pandemic," said Knox.
Sonya Davis, a Dallas police civilian employee, and Brad Deason, a Dallas police reserve officer, were also indicted in the case, officials said.
"This prosecution is based on a novel reading of the Texas Business Code and is wholly inconsistent with how the statute has been applied since it became law in 1995," Knox said. “Officer Jones has been an exemplary officer during his career with the Dallas Police Department and is looking forward to getting back to work so he can continue to serve and protect the people of Dallas like he has for over 20 years.”
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