An Ohio man convicted of running a fake dog training business was sentenced to five years of probation last week.
Jason Jones, 45, was sentenced Friday after previously pleading guilty to 181 counts of failing to provide dog training services as promised and for acts of animal cruelty, the Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.
He has also been ordered to pay $341,363.24 in restitution, the office said in a news release. The assistant prosecutor previously recommended a minimum 10-year prison sentence.
Jones has to pay restitution back within five years, the Miamisburg Police Department confirmed to USA TODAY Monday afternoon. If he misses payments, he faces jail time, and his crimes carry a sentence of 133 to 137 years. He also has to report to court every 30 days, the police department said.
Jones is not allowed to be around any pets and his business was dissolved as a result of the ruling, police said.
Jones previously entered guilty pleas in relation to the following charges:
- 101 counts of theft by deception
- 33 counts of theft beyond scope
- 24 counts of cruelty to companion animals
- 16 counts of theft against an elderly or disabled victim
- 4 counts of theft
- 2 counts of failure to file state income tax
- 1 count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity
Jones’ co-defendants, his ex-girlfriend Tabatha Taverna, 48, and his current girlfriend Jennifer Long, 40, both pleaded guilty to felony theft, the Miamisburg Police Department said. The women were also charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a law against organized crime, but those charges were dismissed.
They will be sentenced on Friday, the Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said. They will likely get probation but will be required to pay some restitution as well, the police department said.
Man took money from customers, returned dogs with ‘signs of neglect’
According to the attorney’s office, Jones claimed to run a business called Dayton Dog Trainer LLC which he said trained dogs and support animals. He also promised follow-up training and none of it happened, the office said.
Jones charged more than 120 customers thousands of dollars for training but when the dogs went home, they were “untrained and often covered in feces with obvious signs of neglect and maltreatment.” Altogether, he took over $340,000 from his customers.
One dog died after being in Jones’ care, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.
Jones previously ran his Dayton Dog Trainer company until March 27, 2024, according to the Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney.
In the court documents, the prosecuting attorney wrote that Jones did operate a legitimate business at one point but there was a shift in August 2018.
“Jones turned that business into a grift,” court documents read.
Jones lied about his experience as a dog trainer
Jones’ website advertised services such as training for advanced dog obedience, aggressive dog behavior and rehabilitation, house manners, as well as training for therapy dogs, seeing-eye dogs and diabetes alert dogs. Jones also claimed to train dogs in narcotics detection, scent detection and tracking dogs, the prosecuting attorney wrote in the court documents.
Once customers reached out to him, he offered to travel to them for in-home evaluations, which lasted anywhere from a minute to two minutes. After that, he talked to the dog owners for the next 45 minutes or so, the prosecutor wrote.
In the court documents, the prosecuting attorney said that during conversations with customers, he was dishonest about his background and work experience.
Jones told customers during these evaluations:
- He was in the military
- He was a military K9 trainer
- He trained “war dogs”
- He was a K9 handler in Afghanistan
- He was a police officer
- He was a police K9 trainer
- He trained dogs for the Cincinnati Bengals players
- He trained dogs for movies
“Several things he said had a thread of truth in them,” prosecutors wrote in the court documents. “He was in the National Guard and on active duty for two months and eleven days, for initial training, before he went AWOL and received a Chapter 10 administrative discharge in lieu of being court-martialed.”
Jones was previously assigned to a military police unit in the National Guard, although he was never a military policeman “because he went AWOL before he finished his training,” prosecutors wrote.
Jones was an auxiliary officer with the Phillipsburg Police Department for eight months and worked as an auxiliary Greene County Park Ranger for 18 months. He quit both jobs before he was fired, prosecutors wrote.
The chief of security for the Bengals said no players had their dogs trained by Jones, according to the documents.
His LinkedIn profile also contained lies, the attorneys wrote, including a lie about doing narcotics interdiction for Green County for three years and seven months.
“While he had videos that he claimed were of him training dogs at a kennel facility, since at least 2006 that has not been the case,” prosecutors wrote in the court documents. “He has never owned/run such a facility.”
Prosecutors: Victims fell into multiple categories
According to the prosecuting attorney, Jones’ victims fell into multiple categories:
- Those he took money from and refused to reply to or refund fully.
- Those whose dogs were dropped off but sent back and deemed “untrainable.”
- Those who were elderly, in the military, and disabled; he did not train their dogs and neglected some of them.
- Those whose dogs were hurt, some of whom were returned to their owners and behaved so aggressively that they had to be euthanized.
- Those who paid for training and received dogs who were not trained at all and behaved worse than before.
Jones had customers sign a six-page contract and pay him in full, prosecutors said in the court documents. He also asked that they pay in cash, or via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App because “he preferred those payment forms to avoid taxes.”
The average fee for his services was $2,500 and when it was time for training, there was an emergency or drop-offs were pushed back, prosecutors said.
“Once healthy dogs lost significant weight and were returned with ribs showing,” court documents show. “Many dogs were returned matted with feces and smelling like urine. Dogs were returned with rashes, bald spots, and whipworm. One dog’s teeth appeared to have been filed.
Customers say dogs were worse when Jones returned them
Prosecutors also alleged in the court documents that Jones promised a woman who was losing her sight a seeing-eye dog. Once she got her dog back from Jones, the dog was aggressive and attacked her. She required skin grafting surgery after the attack.
Another customer is paraplegic and when Jones returned their dog, it bit their granddaughter and sent her to the emergency room to get stitches on her hand.
Another customer went to Jones to get a dog trained and certified for air travel. The dog was untrained and was denied boarding, prosecutors wrote.
“Many of the victims fear Jones,” prosecutors wrote. “He threatened to sue them if they left a bad review. When they cancelled or tried to cancel, he was aggressive toward them and either pressured them into staying with the training or too scared to defend their right to a refund. Adding to their fear was the fact that in every case, he was at their homes and knows where they live.”
‘Defendant should never be allowed near a dog again’
Calling the business a “scam,” prosecutors said Jones ran the Dayton Dog Trainer company out of a home in New Lebanon with Taverna, one of his co-defendants. They also worked out of a log cabin in Brookville, then in a home in Huber Heights with co-defendant Long.
Investigators interviewed neighbors in Brookville and Huber Heights, who never saw Jones training any dogs. As far as bathroom breaks for the dogs, he often left that to his son or Long.
Investigators believe the dogs were kept in cages while they were in his care, and they found a crushed crate that makes them believe the defendants physically abused the dogs, prosecutors said.
Investigators raided Jones’ Brookville home in October 2023 and let him know that what he was doing was a crime, but he continued to do business until they served an arrest warrant.
Prosecuting Attorney Mat Heck, Jr. said in the news release Friday that he is glad Jones is facing the consequences of his actions.
“This defendant ran his so-called business in a way that suggested he believed he could escape the consequences of taking people’s money, torturing their dogs, and providing little to no actual dog training,” Heck said.
“The number of victims is staggering. As a dog owner, I am relieved that his criminal activities have been stopped. This defendant should never be allowed near a dog again!”
This story was updated to add new information.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
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