Newly circulated police body-camera video shows San Francisco 49ers owner and CEO Jed York being pulled from a rental car, handcuffed and questioned after he drove into a mobile home park during an undercover prostitution sting.
York, 46, was arrested at 9:35 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, at Wheat Hill Mobile Home Community off state Route 170. He was initially charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. On Monday he pleaded no contest after prosecutors amended the prostitution count to disorderly conduct. A judge sentenced him to one day in jail on each count, to be served concurrently, with credit for time already served, and fined him $1,150.
The criminal case is closed. The NFL is not finished with it.
The footage, highlighted Wednesday by the Daily Mail and consistent with earlier police accounts of the stop, captures officers removing York from the vehicle and placing him in handcuffs. Officers ask why he is at the trailer park.
“Just driving,” York replies.
Asked whether he is meeting anyone, he says, “No.”
Asked whether he is from the area, he says, “Yeah.”
An officer follows up: “So you’re just driving around East Palestine?”
“Yeah,” York answers.
Police later confirmed the phone in the car was the same device used to arrange the meeting. Officers seized $160 in cash and the phone. The cash was forfeited to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force. The phone was returned as part of the plea.
York posted $5,000 bond Sunday and was booked into the Columbiana County Jail before his Monday court appearance.
The operation was run by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force with assistance from East Palestine police. Court records and an incident report obtained by multiple news organizations say investigators posted an undercover advertisement on a website known for prostitution on Saturday, Aug. 22.
York responded that day under the alias “Joe,” according to the report. He messaged more than once Saturday. Those texts went unanswered. On Sunday morning he wrote again, asked if the woman was free, said he would “love to come see her,” and told the person he was coming from Boardman, Ohio — a suburb south of Youngstown, about 25 minutes from East Palestine. He asked for an address and the price for one hour.
An undercover officer replied that “full service sexual activity” was $160, with unprotected sex $20 more. York said $160 “worked for him” and that he was on his way.
There is a small but consistent discrepancy in the paperwork. An arrest affidavit said York agreed to pay $140. The incident report and court records list the agreed price as $160 and show $160 seized. Both figures have appeared in subsequent coverage.
Officers gave York a fictitious lot number at the mobile home park. Driving an Avis rental, he entered the community, could not find the lot, and returned toward the main road. Marked units stopped him there. A test text to his iPhone confirmed it was the device used in the exchange.
No sex worker was present. York was not charged with human trafficking. Buying sex from an adult is a first-degree misdemeanor under Ohio law; the prostitution count was dropped before the plea.
Wheat Hill’s management later said the park was not a planned sting location. After speaking with East Palestine Police Chief Weingart, the owner posted that York was arrested there “because that’s where he happened to pull over” and that police were not using park addresses as part of the operation.
York appeared Monday in Columbiana County Municipal Court with attorney Frank Cassese. Judge Danielle Menning granted prosecutors’ motion to amend engaging in prostitution to disorderly conduct, a lower-level misdemeanor. York pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools — the phone, under Ohio’s broad “criminal tools” statute. The court found him guilty of both.
The sentence: one day in jail on each count, concurrent, with one day of credit; $150 on the disorderly conduct count and $1,000 on the criminal-tools count; an online course; forfeiture of the $160. Court records also show York paid a $50 fee to seek expungement the same day.
A no-contest plea allows the court to impose a sentence without an admission that can be used as easily against the defendant in a later civil case. It is not an acquittal.
The 49ers issued a one-sentence statement Monday: “As this is a legal matter, which has been resolved, we will not be providing any further comment at this time.”
The NFL said: “We are aware of the matter, which will be reviewed under the personal conduct policy.”
