Editor’s note: Readers are advised the following story uses graphic language regarding the definition of certain Pennsylvania statutes concerning sex assault.

Update: Four hours after publication, a spokesperson from the Krasner campaign emailed Broad + Liberty challenging this report, and issuing a statement. More detail is included at the bottom of this story. We stand by our report.

A Philadelphia Democratic ward leader with recent felony convictions for sex crimes against a minor under the age of thirteen gave a de facto endorsement to District Attorney Larry Krasner on Saturday according to sources and a video, creating the odd and unseemly spectacle of a district attorney receiving support from a political leader prosecuted by his office who must now register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The developments set off a new wave of unease among the many Philly Democratic party leaders who have long opposed the former defense attorney turned prosecutor on the merits, but which leaders have also felt hamstrung in speaking out against Krasner because of his close ties to monied progressive kingmakers like billionaire George Soros and a progressive grassroots determined to drag the Democratic City Committee to the ideological left. 

Sources say (and video appears to confirm) 52nd Ward Leader Stephen Jones, 79, endorsed Krasner by inviting him to a signature-gathering breakfast, a clear and unequivocal show of support in the language of ward politics. 

This screenshot from a video posted to Instagram shows Krasner near the presentation area on the right, and Jones to the left in a white sweater. The video was originally posted to the account friendsofamandadavidson4judge, but no longer appears to be available.

A court docket shows Jones was charged in 2023 then found guilty by a jury in 2025 for two felony counts, “unlawful contact with minor – sexual offenses” and aggravated indecent assault against a person under the age of thirteen. The jury also found Jones guilty of two related misdemeanors. The docket further indicates the district attorney’s office did not pursue one of the original misdemeanor charges, endangering the welfare of children or parent or guardian.

The most serious of the felony charges defines aggravated indecent assault as “a person who engages in penetration, however slight, of the genitals or anus of a complainant with a part of the person’s body for any purpose other than good faith medical, hygienic or law enforcement procedures commits aggravated indecent assault if…(7)  the complainant is less than 13 years of age,” according to Pennsylvania statutes.

His bail was set at $150,000, and the court record indicates Jones paid a ten percent security deposit of $15,000 for his release.

The guilty verdicts came in Jones’ second trial on the charges after the first ended in a hung jury.

Sentencing in the case is set for May 22, two days after the municipal primary concludes — at which time Jones will be 80 and the city will know whether Krasner is back on the glide path for re-election or if the city will have a new top cop.

Krasner is expected to face his toughest primary challenge yet, as former Philadelphia municipal judge Patrick Dugan has also joined the race. A Dugan representative said its campaign was not invited to the same breakfast.

Requests for comment to both Jones and to the Krasner campaign were not immediately returned. Broad + Liberty called and texted the phone number listed for Jones on several websites, as well as sending an email to the account listed on those sites as well.

The 52nd Ward also endorsed Krasner in his 2021 re-election bid, according to a capture of the Krasner campaign website by the Internet Archive in June of that year. Other websites in 2021 indicate Jones was the 52nd’s ward leader at the time.

Endorsements played a dramatic role in Krasner’s 2021 re-election campaign.

In that year, Democratic City Committee declined to endorse any candidate for district attorney. While that stance is sometimes characterized as routine or good political housekeeping, some party insiders at the time told Broad + Liberty it was a seismic twist.

“One source told Broad + Liberty that the party would generally feel comfortable with endorsing a candidate ahead of the primary if that candidate has roughly a two-thirds backing of both party leaders and grassroots,” this outlet reported at the time.

Krasner has been a lightning rod in Philadelphia politics ever since his entry into the DA’s race in 2017. His original run was given a stratospheric boost by $1.7 million in spending from an independent expenditure committee set up by Soros, the progressive billionaire who finances hundreds of political candidates and causes.

The level of spending, especially from someone not from Pennsylvania, was alarming at the time for some political watchers.

“I have a general and growing concern about how we seem to be nationalizing local elections,” David Thornburgh, then the president of the good-government group Committee of 70, said in an interview with WHYY. “You know, these independent expenditures flowing from elsewhere are kind of Exhibit A of how that’s playing out. And if this continues, it starts to feel like Philadelphians lose control of our own elections.”

Krasner continuously touts the number of prior criminal convictions his office has overturned in his tenure. However, his critics point out that his office has not made a successful alternate conviction for any of those crimes.

“Larry Krasner has a different approach to this work [of questioning prior convictions]. His approach is based on ideology and hubris and is, I believe, having a devastating effect on the criminal justice system and the reputations of decent hardworking prosecutors of the past and present,” former district attorney Seth Williams wrote in Broad + Liberty in 2022. 

(Williams had to step down from office facing criminal charges in 2017.)

In 2022, the city witnessed 500 homicides for the first time in decades. Critics blamed Krasner and what they saw as lax prosecution. In the last two years, Krasner has since taken credit for a falling homicide tally, even though that number is coming down from historic highs.

Krasner also faced impeachment from Republicans in the state House of Representatives in late 2022. That impeachment later ended when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled the House members involved violated procedure by stretching the impeachment charges across different sessions.

UPDATE: After publishing, Krasner spokesperson Anthony Campisi challenged our report. You can read his email and our response here. Additionally, our original request for comment sent to the two emails available through Krasner’s website, sent at 11 a.m. with a request for comment by 2:30. One of those emails is specifically listed as a press contact. We did not receive any response to that outreach prior to publication.

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Anthony Campisi, a spokesman for the Krasner for District Attorney campaign, has issued the following statement in response to an incident arising out of the 52nd Democratic Ward endorsement meeting that occurred yesterday:

Yesterday, as part of D.A. Larry Krasner’s attempt to reach out to voters in every corner of Philadelphia, Larry attended a meeting of the 52nd Democratic Ward with more than a dozen other candidates. Larry was proud to share his achievements and vision with grassroots advocates living in West Philadelphia. While our opponent was not in attendance, we have been told that he was also invited to present before the ward.

The campaign was totally unaware at the time that Steve Jones, who had been serving as ward leader, has been convicted of aggravated indecent assault where the complainant was under the age of 13, as well as related offenses. Jones has a common last name, and the case is being handled by experienced prosecutors in the office. It is our understanding that none of the other candidates or party officials present were aware of Jones’ criminal history.

We were in the process of calling for Jones’ resignation when we were informed that he had stepped down from his position as ward leader. We are gratified that this situation seems to have been resolved.

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Todd Shepherd is Broad + Liberty’s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com, or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports