[NEohioPAL] Stage group ex-manager charged with theft

[Brooke Willis]

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/10/stage_group_ex- 
manager_charged.html

Stage group ex-manager charged with theft

By Gabriel Baird

October 09, 2009, 8:29PM

The last role a Cleveland-based theater company that adapts plays for  
hearing-impaired children wanted to fill was that of the victim.

But that's what they are, according to a Cleveland police report  
stating that their stage manager went wild with the company's credit  
cards.

Cleveland police have a warrant for James R. Jones III. The 27-year- 
old East Cleveland man is accused of aggravated theft.

Jones racked up nearly $4,000 on company credit cards, said Sign  
Stage on Tour producers Bill Morgan and Erin LaFountain.

The sum is significant to the modestly funded for-profit company,  
which started about 10 years ago. Morgan adapts popular books and  
plays for hearing-impaired audiences.

Next year the company, which usually consists of a combination of  
hearing and deaf actors, will perform a version of "Charlie and the  
Chocolate Factory" in which Charlie's challenges are compounded by  
being deaf.

The actors, who sign their lines as well as speak them, earn about  
$400 a week. They share hotel rooms and take turns driving the  
company's van to performances from Maine to California.

After acting in the company's production of "The Fantastic Mr. Fox,"  
Jones asked to be the stage manager in the next project, "James and  
the Giant Peach." The job includes paying for gas and hotel rooms.

Jones had been a hard-working, responsible actor, Morgan and  
LaFountain said. So they gave him the job and trusted him with the  
company's credit cards.

Jones also used the cards for personal purchases, and when the  
'troupe's season ended in June 2008, he continued spending.

"He was renting rooms and buying gas and small things in bars," said  
Cleveland police Detective Frank Zagami.

The small charges -- to places like Dave's Supermarket, Cleveland  
Motel, Passport to Peru and Diana's Deli -- added up.

Morgan initially agreed not to go to police when Jones promised to  
pay for his charges, and the producer let Jones keep his job.

When Jones said he was offered a better-paying position with another  
company, Morgan agreed not to go to police if Jones turned over part  
of his salary.

"That's what a con man does," Morgan said. "They get your confidence  
and then they screw you."

By March -- 15 months after the run of "James and the Giant Peach"  
had ended -- the checks still weren't coming in, so Morgan finally  
went to police.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Jones in August. The warrant  
was issued last month.

Now LaFountain hears Jones is back in town, and police need help  
finding him.

People are asked to call their local police department or Cleveland  
police at 216-623-1234. 
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