A Maplewood woman who gained media acclaim and political support for her COVID-19 relief work now has been charged with two felonies in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County.
Shana Jones, 46, was indicted March 20 by a ºüÀêÊÓƵ County grand jury on charges of forgery and filing false documents. The charges were not made public until Wednesday, after Jones was arrested.
Jones is being held at the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Jail on $25,000 cash-only bond; court records did not list a defense attorney. She is set to appear in court on May 17.
Jones’ criminal history outside of Missouri goes back 20 years and includes four previous felony convictions.
The false documents charge is a Class C felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; the forgery charge is a Class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
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The documents charge is related to Jones’ alleged failure in October 2021 to disclose correct information, including about past felony convictions, when she filed as a candidate for the Maplewood City Council, authorities said. She was eventually elected in 2022.
The forgery charge alleges that in June 2022, while on the city council, Jones unlawfully signed the name of another Maplewood resident to a lease agreement “with the purpose to defraud.â€
The lease agreement was part of a plan to get rental assistance during the pandemic, a source said.
The investigation that led to the recent charges began in the summer of 2022, first by federal authorities and then completed by the Maplewood Police Department.
In October 2022, Maplewood police submitted the case to ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
Little action was taken by Bell’s office until January — about 15 months after Maplewood police turned in their findings, and about one month after the Post-Dispatch first wrote about Jones’ criminal past and pending civil lawsuits.
Jones, also known as Poole-Jones, broke into the limelight during the pandemic shutdown in 2020. Local newspapers, including the Post-Dispatch, and television stations, followed by some national outlets, reported on her grassroots aid efforts.
Most conspicuous was Jones’ “Grab N Go Table,†which she set up in the front yard of her home in Maplewood to provide free food and other items to people in need.
Early on, one of Jones’ political boosters was County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, D-5th District. A Maplewood resident, Clancy called Jones “an inspiration†and helped honoring Jones.
In 2021, several Maplewood leaders recruited Jones to run for a city council seat, with Clancy joining in as a campaign contributor.
Bolstered by support from Mayor Nikylan Knapper and campaign help from city manager Amber Withycombe, then a Maplewood-Richmond Heights school board member, Jones won the election in April 2022.
Jones, however, resigned her council seat just five months later, after talk about her past felony convictions on forgery and fraud charges surfaced in the community.
Most of her Maplewood supporters quietly moved away from Jones and the city council accepted her resignation without any disclosure of her past.
Last month, Jones was on KTVI (Channel 2) to promote her renewed relief efforts, now based out of New Life ºüÀêÊÓƵ, a church in Bridgeton. She said her nonprofit group, Keep Pushing Inc., would be holding events coming up this year.
The Rev. Aaron Batchelor, the pastor who appeared on KTVI with Jones, has not returned messages left by the Post-Dispatch with a church receptionist.
In the last few years, Jones also has been named as a defendant in multiple civil suits that claim she owes money.
In January, Jones was named in two lawsuits filed in ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Court.
In a suit filed Jan. 5, plaintiff claimed her organization, Empowher 2 Move, agreed to provide crisis intervention and case management services at a shelter Jones was operating in south ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
The agreement reached in December 2022 called for Jones to pay Williams’ group $56,000 a year. The suit claimed the money came from federal emergency services grant funds administered by ºüÀêÊÓƵ city.
Jones quit operating the Gravois shelter in March 2023, the suit notes. Williams’ suit asked for $2,800 in owed fees and $2,200 in punitive damages.
The lawsuit was dismissed on Aug. 8 by the agreement of both parties, court records show.
The other civil suit was filed on Jan. 17 by Horizon Technologies Inc. It alleges that Jones’ Keep Pushing Inc. nonprofit has failed to pay $3,700 for tile and flooring work done at a leased space in ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Jones’ first felony convictions reach back to 2004, in Clayton County, Georgia. Jones pleaded guilty to three felony counts of forgery and one felony count of identity fraud, according to court records.
She was sentenced to three years in prison on each forgery charge and one year on the fraud charge, with the sentences imposed concurrently.
In 2019, Jones pleaded guilty to one count of felony forgery and was placed on two years’ probation in Pitt County, North Carolina, Superior Court, a spokesman said.
Jones also has lost in court on several recent civil suits:
In June 2022, Dobbs Tire and Auto won a judgment of $2,512 against Jones.
In August 2022, the Missouri Division of Employment Security won a judgment against Jones’ nonprofit organization for $1,032.
In June 2023, a judgment of $6,217 was entered against Jones, and another $6,217 was placed on Keep Pushing Inc. The suit by Kalinga Productions involved commercial space in Maplewood.
Shana Poole-Jones channeled her personal losses from COVID-19 into a project to help others in her community cope.Â
The complex accused the woman of invasion of privacy, emotional distress and other charges after she circulated information on rental assistance.Â