DES MOINES (AP) - A sheriff in southeastern Iowa won't be able to carry a gun or make an arrest for about 9 months because he signed an application by his son to become a reserve deputy that didn't disclose an earlier conviction.

Lee County Sheriff H.D. Buck Jones learned Monday that his license had been suspended for 270 days over what he said was essentially a paperwork mistake made by his son that wasn't caught by himself or the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

While the academy's council found that Jones wasn't trying to mislead anyone, it chose to suspended his license for certifying false information.

Sheriff Jones said he knew his son, Gentry Jones, had been charged with the felony of willful injury and then pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury for a 1994 incident. But, he insisted that when he took over as sheriff in 2005, he was trying to quickly fulfill an election promise to build a reserve force and didn't scrutinize paperwork prepared for him regarding the hiring of reserve deputies.

"I didn't look at any of the names of any of the applications they gave me. I just signed the paperwork," Jones told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

The form asked if an applicant has ever been convicted of any offense other than simple misdemeanor traffic violations, and Gentry Jones apparently answered on his application that he had not.

"I believe he made a mistake when he was filling it out," Jones said of his son's application.

According to the decision from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council, which was provided to the AP by Sheriff Jones, a Lee County deputy conducted criminal history checks on the applicants, including Gentry Jones. That inquiry yielded the misdemeanor conviction and was forwarded to another deputy who compiled about a dozen applications and gave them to the sheriff for his signature.

The applications, including Gentry Jones' criminal history, were forwarded the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, which apparently didn't note the criminal history and approved Jones to serve as a reserve deputy.

A few years later, Jones decided he wanted to work as a reserve officer with the Donnellson Police Department, and the chief of that department discovered his criminal history and applied for a waiver from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council.

That alerted the council to the reserve deputy's criminal history and it determined that Sheriff Jones had provided the academy with a document that certified a false statement. The council moved to decertify him as a peace officer.

He appealed and a hearing was held in early December. Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack represented Jones before the academy's council.

The council noted in its decision that Sheriff Jones did not read his son's application before signing it.

"The Respondent was not trying to mislead the ILEA when he signed the applications without reading them," the decision said. The suspension of Jones' license began last Wednesday.

A telephone message left Monday afternoon for Brian Guy, the chairman of the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Council, wasn't immediately returned. Penny Westfall, the academy's director, said she couldn't offer additional comment on the decision.

Sheriff Jones said that in his more than 30 years in law enforcement he had never been reprimanded until now. He earlier told the council that "he has learned a very important lesson" and now reads everything that he signs.

He said he spoke with the Lee County attorney's office and learned that he can continue to perform administrative duties while his license is suspended. He added that he hasn't made an arrest in a long time as part of his role as sheriff.

Jones said he thought his punishment was severe, and he has spoken with his attorney and plans to appeal the suspension.

"I think it's excessive," he said.