August 8, 2000, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Mendocino D.A. hires ex-Jim Jones adviser Tim Stoen, by Mike Geniella,

 

UKIAH -- Tim Stoen, a former top legal adviser to Jim Jones and the People's Temple, has returned to Mendocino County to work as a deputy prosecutor for District Attorney Norman Vroman.

 

Vroman said Stoen has been assigned to his office's family support division.

 

"People who know Tim know him as a very smart individual, and good attorney who's an asset in any office," Vroman said.

 

Stoen broke with Jones several months before 912 people, including Stoen's 5-year-old son John Victor, died in 1978 in a forced mass suicide at Jonestown in Guyana.

 

Stoen, who has lived in Mendocino County on and off for the past decade, is no stranger to the Mendocino County Courthouse or the region's politics. He has run for the state Senate and Congress as both a Republican and a Democrat.

 

Stoen could not be reached Monday for comment on his new job.

 

A Colorado native and Stanford University law graduate, Stoen first arrived in Mendocino County in the late 1960s. He helped establish a legal services office in Ukiah where he first met Jones, who had moved to Mendocino County in 1965, bringing 145 members of his former Indiana church with him.

 

By the early 1970s, Stoen was publicly working as a deputy in the then-combined district attorney-county counsel office. Privately, he was serving as Jones' chief legal and political adviser. His then-wife, Grace, also held a position in Jones' hierarchy.

 

When Jones moved the People's Temple to San Francisco in mid-1970s, Stoen followed, taking a job in the District Attorney's Office there while remaining in his role as a key People's Temple adviser.

 

Jones and Stoen eventually split as the result of a bitter struggle over custody of a son born to Grace Stoen in 1972 at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Jones immediately claimed paternity of the child, which was disputed by the Stoens, who divorced not long after.

 

Stoen, who had followed Jones to Guyana, decided to leave Jonestown and the Temple in late 1977, but Jones refused to let the boy leave with Stoen when he returned to the United States.

 

A few months later, Tim Stoen joined his former wife, who had left the temple earlier, and the two waged a high-profile legal battle to regain custody of the boy in the final months leading up to the Jonestown mass suicide.

 

Stoen's most recent run for public office was in 1998, when he entered a state Senate race as a Democrat. Eight years before, he had run for Congress as a Republican.

 

Stoen is the newest deputy prosecutor hired by Vroman, who has revamped the District Attorney's Office since he took office in January 1999. Within his first six months in office, nine of 16 local prosecutors had been replaced.

 

Vroman said Monday he has no qualms about Stoen's past ties to Jones or the People's Temple.

 

"He's been on the job for the past month and I haven't heard one complaint. I think just about everyone here knows Tim and how good of an attorney he is," Vroman said.

 

UKIAH -- Tim Stoen, a former top legal adviser to Jim Jones and the People's Temple, has returned to Mendocino County to work as a deputy prosecutor for District Attorney Norman Vroman.

 

Vroman said Stoen has been assigned to his office's family support division.

 

"People who know Tim know him as a very smart individual, and good attorney who's an asset in any office," Vroman said.

 

Stoen broke with Jones several months before 912 people, including Stoen's 5-year-old son John Victor, died in 1978 in a forced mass suicide at Jonestown in Guyana.

 

Stoen, who has lived in Mendocino County on and off for the past decade, is no stranger to the Mendocino County Courthouse or the region's politics. He has run for the state Senate and Congress as both a Republican and a Democrat.

 

Stoen could not be reached Monday for comment on his new job.

 

A Colorado native and Stanford University law graduate, Stoen first arrived in Mendocino County in the late 1960s. He helped establish a legal services office in Ukiah where he first met Jones, who had moved to Mendocino County in 1965, bringing 145 members of his former Indiana church with him.

 

By the early 1970s, Stoen was publicly working as a deputy in the then-combined district attorney-county counsel office. Privately, he was serving as Jones' chief legal and political adviser. His then-wife, Grace, also held a position in Jones' hierarchy.

 

When Jones moved the People's Temple to San Francisco in mid-1970s, Stoen followed, taking a job in the District Attorney's Office there while remaining in his role as a key People's Temple adviser.

 

Jones and Stoen eventually split as the result of a bitter struggle over custody of a son born to Grace Stoen in 1972 at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Jones immediately claimed paternity of the child, which was disputed by the Stoens, who divorced not long after.

 

Stoen, who had followed Jones to Guyana, decided to leave Jonestown and the Temple in late 1977, but Jones refused to let the boy leave with Stoen when he returned to the United States.

 

A few months later, Tim Stoen joined his former wife, who had left the temple earlier, and the two waged a high-profile legal battle to regain custody of the boy in the final months leading up to the Jonestown mass suicide.

 

Stoen's most recent run for public office was in 1998, when he entered a state Senate race as a Democrat. Eight years before, he had run for Congress as a Republican.

 

Stoen is the newest deputy prosecutor hired by Vroman, who has revamped the District Attorney's Office since he took office in January 1999. Within his first six months in office, nine of 16 local prosecutors had been replaced.

 

Vroman said Monday he has no qualms about Stoen's past ties to Jones or the People's Temple.

 

"He's been on the job for the past month and I haven't heard one complaint. I think just about everyone here knows Tim and how good of an attorney he is," Vroman said.