49ers Owner Jed York Pleads No Contest to Two Misdemeanors After Ohio Prostitution Arrest

Jed York, principal owner and CEO of the San Francisco 49ers, was arrested Sunday morning in East Palestine, Ohio, and pleaded no contest Monday to two misdemeanor charges: disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools.

According to court records obtained by ESPN and cited by ABC7 News, York responded to an undercover advertisement on a known prostitution website and arranged to pay $140 for sex. He was arrested at 9:35 a.m. Sunday at the Wheat Hill Mobile Home Community, with the cellphone he used to arrange the meeting in hand, according to an East Palestine Police Department arrest report. East Palestine police assisted the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force in the arrest.

York was originally charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. Prosecutors amended the prostitution charge to disorderly conduct as part of a plea deal, according to Columbiana County court records reviewed by multiple outlets including the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times.

He was released Sunday on a $5,000 bond, according to the AP and NFL.com, though the New York Times reported it as an own-recognizance bond confirmed by the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office. Either way, York was back in Columbiana County Municipal Court Monday morning, where he entered his no-contest plea.

The sentence: two days, one day served, $1,150

Court records show York was sentenced to jail time on both charges, to run concurrently, and was credited with time already served. He paid $1,150 in fines, split as $150 for disorderly conduct and $1,000 for possessing criminal tools, according to ABC7 News and the New York Times.

A cellphone seized during the arrest was ordered returned to York. Separately, $160 in cash confiscated at the scene was forfeited to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force as part of the plea agreement, according to court records cited by the AP, NFL.com, and the LA Times. Records also note York completed an online course, though specifics of that course weren't detailed in any court filing reviewed by these outlets.

Columbiana County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino told ESPN and the LA Times the outcome was standard for someone with no criminal history facing this type of charge. "This was routine for someone facing those types of charges in our area and not having a history of this type of criminal conduct in his past," Abruzzino wrote in an email to ESPN.

Cleveland attorney Marisa Darden, quoted by the New York Times, called the "possessing criminal tools" statute "fairly nebulous" and said she'd rarely seen it applied to a prostitution case, suggesting it likely stemmed from York's use of a phone to respond to the ad. She called that "a little bit of an aggressive charging posture."

Where the accounts differ

The dollar figures reported for the fine split vary slightly across outlets. The AP and NFL.com reported a flat $1,150 fine without breaking it down. ABC7 News and the New York Times itemized it as $150 plus $1,000. The AP and NFL.com also described a one-day jail sentence on both charges served concurrently; the LA Times and New York Times reported a two-day sentence with credit for one day served. These are minor discrepancies in how each outlet characterized the same court record, not competing accounts of what happened.

NFL review, and the Kraft comparison

The NFL confirmed it's aware of the arrest and will review it under the league's personal conduct policy, which applies to owners as well as players. The 49ers issued a brief statement: "As this is a legal matter, which has been resolved, we will not be providing any further comment at this time."

Patriots owner Robert Kraft was investigated but never disciplined by the league after his 2019 arrest in Florida on solicitation charges, which were later dropped when a court found police violated customers' rights by secretly filming inside a massage parlor. By contrast, then-Colts owner Jim Irsay was suspended six games and fined $500,000 in 2014 after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated.

NBC Sports raised the obvious question: given the perception that owners get treated more leniently than players under the personal conduct policy, will York face comparable discipline to what a player would get for the same conduct? The decision rests with Commissioner Roger Goodell's office.

Background

York, 45 according to some reports and 46 according to NFL.com, took over day-to-day control of the 49ers from his parents in 2008 and became principal owner in 2024. The team has been a consistent Super Bowl contender since hiring coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch in 2017, reaching three Super Bowls under York's ownership.

The New York Times additionally reported that York filed for divorce from his wife, Danielle Belluomini York, on May 11, 2026, in Santa Clara Superior Court, and that the case remains active. He filed Monday to have the Ohio charges expunged, according to the LA Times.

The open question is what the NFL does next. Owners have historically faced softer discipline than players for similar personal conduct violations, and this case will test whether that pattern holds.