Mayor Dwight C. Jones is off the hook.

Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring announced Wednesday that Mayor Jones has been cleared of allegations that he used city resources to benefit the South Side church where he also is senior pastor.

Mr. Herring said that after 10 months and hundreds of hours of work by State Police and FBI investigators, no evidence shows that the mayor or any members of his administration crossed the line to aid First Baptist Church of South Richmond to develop a satellite sanctuary in Chesterfield County.

While Mr. Herring said the probe shows that the city needs to tighten, or at least better enforce its code of ethics and conflict of interest policies that bar actions that create an appearance of a conflict, he noted the investigation found no evidence that showed “probable cause” that the mayor or members of his administration who belong to the church broke any criminal laws.

“Nothing about the way this situation was handled reflects well on the administration,” Mr. Herring told reporters following the release of a six-page report summing up the findings.

“Nevertheless, any referral for prosecution must be grounded in probable cause, not suspicion, not even disappointment, not even distaste, not even distrust,” Mr. Herring said.

Mayor Jones, whose attorneys were notified Tuesday evening that the case would be closed without any criminal charges, issued a statement indicating he felt vindicated.

Mayor Jones stated that when the question of whether he had entangled the city in his church’s affairs arose, “I requested an independent investigation” to clear up the matter, although the uproar over allegations of cronyism and corruption flavored the fall campaign for mayor with candidates vying for public favor with promises to clean up City Hall.

As soon as the probe began, Mayor Jones stated, “I cooperated extensively in the investigation to ensure any concerns were carefully examined and dispelled,” he continued.

“I was confident my administration strictly adhered to the law, and I am pleased, but not surprised, the Virginia State Police and Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney agree. Although the investigation took longer than expected, it was thorough and conclusive, and I am glad it is behind us,” stated the mayor, who will leave office at the end of this month.

Mayor-elect Levar Stoney declined to comment on the outcome or to say whether he would seek to follow Mr. Herring’s recommendations for improvements to the city’s code of ethics.

In Mr. Herring’s view, the city needs to require more disclosure and written permission for employees, particularly managers, who involve themselves in volunteer projects that could create conflicts of interest.

He also recommended that the city require greater disclosure from job applicants of any relationships with top city officials, including the mayor.

He said the kind of extensive probe that was undertaken might not have been needed if such disclosure requirements were in place.

As the report relates, the case began in December when Umesh Dalal, the city’s internal auditor and inspector general, received a complaint that the city’s director of public works, Emmanuel Adediran, was neglecting his city duties to serve as project manager for First Baptist’s construction project in Chesterfield. Mr. Adediran, who has worked for the city since 1999 and still serves as director of public works, is an associate minister at First Baptist.

The complaint alleged that Mr. Adediran “spent numerous hours” on city time visiting the church’s satellite sanctuary construction site and taking calls and meetings involving the development.

On Jan. 5, Mr. Dalal dropped a bombshell in a letter to the administration, reporting his finding that Mr. Adediran had spent 38 hours during normal city business hours as a volunteer on the church project.

In response, Mayor Jones and Selena Cuffee-Glenn, the city’s chief administrative officer, required Mr. Adediran to forfeit 38 hours of unused vacation time to make up that time.

Mr. Dalal then uncovered emails indicating that Mayor Jones had been aware of Mr. Adediran’s service to the church, which led Mr. Dalal to refer the matter to Mr. Herring. The mayor also asked the State Police to investigate to determine if Mr. Adediran had made “any use of city property or resources” in his role on the construction project.

The State Police than went to Mr. Herring, who then gained permission from the multijurisdictional grand jury to begin an investigation involving interviews with witnesses, and combing through emails, documents, city records and other items.

Mr. Herring stated that the probe first sought to determine if any city taxpayer dollars were used to support the church’s building project.

He stated that neither Mr. Dalal nor the investigators found any “records of city expenditures related to the project.”

“No city employee we interviewed was aware of any city funds being used for the project,” Mr. Herring said. “There also was no evidence city employees (other than Mr. Adediran) contributed in any way to the project during the city workday.”

Mr. Herring stated that by giving up the 38 hours, “Mr. Adediran acknowledged that he was careless in conducting church business during the city’s workday.” But Mr. Herring also stated that no evidence was found that Mr. Adediran spent time at or near the construction site on city time.

As a result, Mr. Herring stated that the probe did not find that Mr. Adediran’s actions constituted “probable cause of a crime” and that the administrative penalty was sufficient.

Mr. Herring said the probe also checked to determine if any city employees used their official positions in a bid to obtain lower prices for the church’s construction needs.

While witnesses said, and emails showed, that Mr. Adediran bragged that he could get preferential pricing from City of Richmond vendors who also had contracts on the church project, Mr. Herring stated that no evidence emerged to prove Mr. Adediran did more than attempt “to leverage his relationships, if not his directorship” to gain lower prices.

“For one thing, he was unsuccessful,” Mr. Herring stated, noting that the quotes he obtained for the church from city vendors were higher than those from non-city vendors and those obtained by the (church’s) general contractor.”

Mr. Herring also noted that state law does not prohibit government vendors from engaging in private contracts with city employees or officials unless that contract involves the use of taxpayer funds or involves promises of future city business in exchange for lower prices.

“Ultimately, while Mr. Adediran’s attempts to obtain favorable price is unseemly and significantly undermines public confidence, it is not public embezzlement. It is not illegal,” Mr. Herring stated in the report.

Finally, the investigation found no emails or witnesses that Mr. Adediran offered future city business to vendors to benefit the church’s project.

“Mr. Adediran, the mayor and (his son and First Baptist pastor) Derik Jones denied offering any inducements to vendors and we found no evidence to the contrary,” Mr. Herring stated.

Although the probe “raises suspicion and concern about opaque government and calls into question the credibility of many involved, the facts do not support prosecution,” Mr. Herring concluded.

Quoting a colleague, Mr. Herring stated that what “may rightly provoke the public’s ire is not sufficient for criminal prosecution.”

Mr. Herring noted that the probe also followed up on allegations of cronyism related to the mayor’s penchant for hiring some church members to high-paying positions and “a vague allegation” that the mayor did so to have those hired engage in direct tithing of a portion of their salaries to improve church collections.

Mr. Herring stated that the probe found that of the 58 executives in the mayor’s administration, six are church members and five of them occupied positions with annual salaries of $100,000 or more.

However, there was no evidence of a quid pro quo to the church. Mr. Herring stated that mayor stated that none of the senior employees tithed or gave 10 percent of their salary to their church, and most actually donated little or no money at all.

According to Mr. Herring, the mayor was found to follow a policy of hiring church members where possible, in large measure to ensure diversity in his administration as members of the church are largely African-American.

Still, Mr. Herring said that it would have been better if the relationship between the mayor, the church and those hired to executive posts had been disclosed.

While Mayor Jones’ hiring policy “smacks of cronyism,” Mr. Herring stated, “this practice is not, in fact, criminal. While it may reflect poor judgment and endear loyalty to the mayor, nothing in the Commonwealth’s criminal statutes prohibits such conduct.”

However, Mr. Herring stated that the lack of criminality “does not foreclose the need for serious public discussions, perhaps among newly elected officials, regarding how these practices undermine confidence in our city government.”