In July 2025, A Man From Tennessee Was Arrested For Stealing Money From Nancy Jones, George Jones’ Widow
Kirk West, a 58-year-old man from Franklin, Tennessee, was arrested in July 2025 and charged with theft.

According to an affidavit, Nancy Jones, the widow of country music legend George Jones, told authorities that West stole $400,000 of cash and a ledger that had $11.6 million in cryptocurrency from her safe “on or around June 26.”

Court documents show that Jones asked her granddaughter to retrieve cash and jewelry from a safe after suspecting that West was being unfaithful. Police said West was the only person other than Jones who had access to the wallet’s private key.

Jones and West were a couple for more than a decade, but she had asked him to leave her home on June 28 after having suspicions of infidelity. Court documents allege that West called Jones and told her he would return $5 million of cryptocurrency to her bank account, and that’s it.

West was arrested at the Nashville Airport attempting to board a flight to the Philippines with his new girlfriend when he was intercepted by police.

Kirk West being arrested in July 2025 (Photo Credit: Franklin Police Department)

West Appeared In Court On October 7, 2025

During the court appearance, Jones said, “Everything that he told me, I definitely trusted him. Even the romantic part, I definitely trusted him.”

Jones admitted that they met shortly after her husband George passed away. He posed as a real estate investor interested in her property, 80-acre estate Country Gold, that she was selling, but shortly after, Jones claims he “dropped his facade” and was “penniless.”

Jones allowed him to move into a separate wing of her house, and after that, he “seduced” her. She allowed him to manage her estate and finances, even saying, “He took care of everything. I didn’t take care of nothing.”

When asked if she trusted him, she replied, “One hundred percent.”

Prosecutors asked her if West acted like a financial manager, to which she said, “He called himself that, yes. He did crypto, and he studied that a lot. That is about what I know. And then he just took care of everything else. I put all my trust into him.”

The judge ruled there was “enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury,” which was scheduled for January 28th. On top of the theft charges related to Jones, Rolling Stone reports that West is “linked to a string of civil lawsuits, defaulted bank loans, a federal fraud conviction, and an arrest for violating a restraining order.”

The publication also reports that he’s been accused of convincing people to “invest their life savings in his real estate opportunities and promising six-figure returns, only to take the profits for himself.”

An ex-girlfriend claims that “he is a guy that reads obituaries and preys on people,” and that she is “fairly confident that’s how he managed to get in touch with Nancy.”

Kirk West Countersued Nancy Jones

Despite all the evidence against him, West is maintaining his innocence, saying that he is “entitled” to part of the fortune and actually accuses Jones of fraud and defamation.

In court documents filed on January 9th, West denies stealing “her cryptocurrency,” instead claiming that he “made numerous wise investments over the course of the parties’ relationship which built substantial wealth for them.”

Because he was the one doing the investing, he claims he is entitled to a portion of it.

He also accuses the widow of “abusing the judicial process, unjust enrichment, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, and defamation for publiciz[ing] the accusations and [his] arrest.”

West claims that because of the publication of his arrest, he has been “exposed to wrath, public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or deprived him of the benefits of public confidence or social interaction.”

He is seeking “half of all cryptocurrency, cash, and precious metals possessed by the parties at the time he vacated.”

West is due in court before a grand jury soon, so only time will tell what this countersuit will bring.