WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — New testimony was shared in court on Tuesday in a case involving country music legend George Jones’ widow.
Nancy Jones alleges her ex-boyfriend, 58-year-old Kirk West, stole over $10 million in cash and cryptocurrency from her.
After George Jones died in 2013, Nancy met Kirk West while consolidating and selling a home. Nancy said West moved in, and their relationship turned romantic. For the next 12 years, he allegedly managed her finances.
“He took care of everything; I didn’t take care of nothing,” Nancy told the court.
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“And you trusted him?” the prosecution asked.
“One hundred percent,” Nancy responded. “Everything that he told me, I definitely trusted him. Even the romantic part, I definitely trusted him.”
In June, Nancy said she found out West was cheating.
She said she asked her granddaughter to check the safe since she was out of town. Inside, there was $400,000 in cash along with the Ledger wallet, which contained approximately 5,534,307 units of the digital currency XRP, missing, according to the affidavit. Since each token was reportedly valued at approximately $2.10 on the date of the theft, that was $11,622,044.70 worth of crypto at the time. The total value of that stolen crypto has increased to $17,045,665.56 as of Friday, July 25.
Her granddaughter took the stand next.
“They asked me to count again, and I did count again and got the same 1.2 million,” Nancy Jones’ granddaughter Breann Wyatt explained.
“Why would they ask you to count again?” the defense attorney asked Wyatt.
“Because they did not think that was the amount that should’ve been in there,” she responded.
Police said West was the only person besides Nancy Jones with the private key, essentially a PIN code, to access the wallet. With the help of attorneys, Nancy Jones recovered approximately 5,051,102 XRP but still lost out on 483,205 XRP.
“So he was like a financial manager?” the prosecution lawyer asked Nancy.
“He called himself that, yes,” Nancy answered.
“During that time, did he do any investments for you?” the lawyer prompted.
“He did crypto, and he studied that a lot,” she said. “That is about what I know, and then he just took care of everything else. I put all my trust into him.”
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The alleged theft happened in June. Nancy explained that she waited until July to file a police report because she was acquiring her lawyers.
West was arrested at BNA less than a day after Franklin Police launched their investigation.
On Tuesday, following the preliminary hearing, the judge ruled there was enough evidence to allow the case to proceed to the Williamson County grand jury.
West’s next court appearance is set for Jan. 28, 2026.
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