Bob Jones has been in the spotlight for years, first as president and CEO of NCED. He was a wealthy man who ran in the important circles of El Paso, a man with an apparently thriving business who was generous with his money.
Jones took over the National Center for the Employment of the Disabled in the early 1990's. In a few years he turned the small non-profit into a multi-million-dollar enterprise. He was a big contributor in the community, giving to the symphony, El Paso Pro Musica , the YMCA and YWCA and numerous political campaigns.
He also bought two of the iconic buildings downtown: the Mills building and the blue flame building.
In 2005, Jones was at the top of his game. There were 4000 people working at NCED and he had his own timeline for downtown development. He said the Blue Flame Building would be renovated and occupied within two years and the Mills building would become a magnet school for the arts and sciences. In October of that year the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce named him El Paso's entrepreneur of the year.
Four years ago he was optimistic about downtown development. "I think we'll someday look back four, five years from now and say wow that happened so quickly," said Jones.
Instead, he resigned from NCED. He doesn't own his downtown buildings any more and his big plans are in tatters. And now, four years later, he's in danger of going to jail.