A former Roanoke councilman who used the alias "Joe Smith" to place an attack ad against a political rival has been charged with breaking state campaign finance laws.

Brian Wishneff was indicted by a grand jury Monday on charges of failing to report the advertisement as a contribution to his campaign for re-election to the Roanoke City Council.

Wishneff -- who ended up losing the election to the candidate he targeted in full-page newspaper advertisements -- now faces the possibility of jail time on two misdemeanor charges.

It's not only unusual for a member of Roanoke City Council to face criminal charges; it's almost unheard of. A review of newspaper archives, and interviews with several local historians, found no mention in recent history of a case similar to Wishneff's.

The charges stem from ads that ran in The Roanoke Times and The Roanoke Star-Sentinel. Published in the closing days of last spring's municipal elections, the ad portrayed 29-year-old Court Rosen as an ill-informed candidate with no record of community involvement.

At the bottom of The Roanoke Times ad was a line that read: "Paid for by Joe Smith, Citizens for Sensible Decisions."

Wishneff -- who had identified Rosen as one of his key rivals in the six-way race for three council seats -- later admitted that he made up the name Joe Smith while making arrangements to have the ad placed in The Roanoke Times.

But Wishneff insisted that a sales representative for the newspaper's advertising department told him he could falsify a name, and that he did so only out of frustration to end a disagreement over whether a person's name was even needed for the ad. Officials at The Roanoke Times have denied that account.

For all the intrigue that the mysterious "Joe Smith" generated, the false name was not a factor in the charges returned by the grand jury, special prosecutor John Alexander said.

Because Wishneff benefited from the ad's message, state law required him to report its cost to the state board of elections. The grand jury charged that he did not do so, citing two separate laws with slightly different requirements.

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 12 months in jail but could also be punishable by a fine.

Wishneff had faced a more serious charge, but the grand jury decided not to indict him on a felony count of knowingly making a false statement on a campaign finance report that omitted the cost of the attack ad leveled against Rosen.

Wishneff did not return a call Monday. His attorney, John Lichtenstein of Roanoke, said Wishneff has cooperated with a state police investigation.

"He is pleased to learn that the grand jury found that no felony had been committed," Lichtenstein said. "The two misdemeanor matters apparently deal with the alleged nonreporting of a political contribution. Mr. Wishneff looks forward to the opportunity to directly address this remaining matter."

Other questions about the ad were not addressed by the grand jury. Among them: the status of its sponsor, Citizens for Sensible Decisions, and the role that members of that organization played in having the ad placed in the two newspapers.

Citizens for Sensible Decisions is not registered as a political action committee, as it was required by law to be, officials with the board of elections have said. Campaign finance laws also require any PAC that purchases an ad to file reports with the state, making public its donations and expenses.

Alexander, an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Botetourt County, said Monday that he is sending a report to the board of elections detailing the roles that other people played in placing the ad. The board could then decide whether to assess civil fines.

Although Wishneff was involved in placing the ad, the cost was covered by Citizens for Sensible Decisions, the group's treasurer has said.

Following the grand jury indictments, Circuit Court Judge Charlie Dorsey set a $5,000 unsecured bond for Wishneff, who will be allowed to turn himself in on the two charges by week's end.

During a break from Monday's Roanoke City Council meeting, several members commented on the charges against Wishneff, who was elected to council in 2004 and became a frequent critic of the city administration and the majority on council.

"It's a good reminder that integrity matters," Councilwoman Gwen Mason said -- a reference to Wishneff's campaign slogan of "Integrity Matters." Rosen declined to comment on the charges.

Mayor David Bowers, who was not on the council at the time the ads ran, said he was surprised that the case rose to the level of criminal charges, as opposed to a civil penalty.

"But then again I'm not a prosecutor," Bowers said. "For all of us who work in public life, we have personal friendships and feelings when someone like George McMillan gets caught in the public eye, or Alfred Dowe and now Brian Wishneff. Brian and his family remain friends of mine, and he and his family are in my thoughts and prayers."

McMillan is the former city sheriff who was the target of a successful sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former deputy. Dowe is a former councilman who resigned in February over questions about his spending for meals and travel related to city business.

According to travel expense vouchers, Dowe billed both the city and the state for his expenses to attend meetings of a state agency for which he was a board member. A special prosecutor has been appointed in that case, too, but no charges have been brought so far.

Staff writer Mason Adams and news researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.