DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR GETS OWNED OVER FOI REQUEST

DFA DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS - JAKE BLEED

On our blog about the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control we recently posted a story about DFA Director of Communications Jake Bleed's release of sensitive personal information that is specifically listed in the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act as not being subject to release.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE POST 

Apparently the story got Bleed's panties in a wad as evidenced in his response to a FOI request for a follow up story about Carla Daniels and the mess at the Arkansas Military Department.

  Bleed's smart-ass response got him more than he bargained for.

Realizing too late that he had made a bad mistake, Bleed send another email in which he complains that he will have to review about 33,000 emails and it will take him a while.  If we can be more specific, the request can be processed faster.

We originally asked for any email sent or received by Robert Hallmark that mentioned made reference to or dealt with the Arkansas Military Department, Karen Norris or Carla Daniels be provided to us.  Pretty damn specific.

Have fun with all those emails Jake!

FORMER PROBATION OFFICER PLEDS GUILTY TO ABUSE OF POSITION FOR MONETARY GAIN

 

RODERICK DANIELS

Roderick Daniels, a former probation officer for the Arkansas Department of Community Correction entered a guilty plea in Federal Court earlier this year to charges that he used his position for financial gain by assisting a probationer avoid failing drug tests.

Daniels is to appear back in Federal Court on November 9, 2016 for sentencing.

Daniels took money from a probationer to help him avoid testing positive on drug tests that would have sent the probationer to jail.

Daniels noticed that the probationer, only identified in court documents as "S.N.",  had failed one drug test and before his next scheduled drug test, Daniels contacted him and asked him if he was going to pass the next test, the man told Daniels no.  Daniels told him that for a price, he would delay the test  until the drugs had cleared out of his system.

Daniels continued this process four more times and collected a total of $1,200.00 from the probationer.

Daniels faces up to five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and an fine of up to $250,00.  He will also have to repay the probationer the $1,200.

Roderick Daniels is the son of Carla Daniels who has stirred up a huge mess at the Arkansas Military Department.  CLICK HERE TO READ OUR POST ABOUT CARLA DANIELS

We asked the Arkansas Department of Community Correction for a comment and received no response.

DINA TYLER - DEPT. OF COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS

Tyler's agency did not recommend that Daniels be decertified as a specialized officer even though he was arrested prior to his "resignation".  

Why they would accept the resignation of an employee that had been under investigation for violating the law and their internal policies is beyond comprehension.

DISGRACED JUDGE INDICTED AND CHARGED WITH MULTIPLE FELONY OFFENSES

BOECKMANN' S MUGSHOT - NO THAT'S NOT A NINJA TURTLE COSTUME, IT'S AN ANTI-SUICIDE SMOCK

A former district judge accused of taking inappropriate photographs of misdemeanor defendants in exchange for lenient sentences has been indicted on 21 federal charges, including bribery and fraud, according to a grand jury indictment that was unsealed Monday.

Boeckmann resigned in May 2016, hoping to end an inquiry regarding allegations of judicial misconduct.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas grand jury charged former Cross County District Judge O. Joseph Boeckmann, 70, with eight counts of wire fraud, two counts of witness tampering, one count of bribery and 10 counts of violating a federal travel act.

Boeckmann appeared before U.S. Magistrate Joe Volpe on Monday afternoon in Little Rock. He will return to court Wednesday for a bond hearing.

The grand jury, which convened Oct. 4, found that Boeckmann used his position as a judge "corruptly" to "obtain personal services, sexual contact and the opportunity to view and to photograph in compromising positions those who appeared before him in traffic and misdemeanor criminal cases in exchange for dismissing the cases."

 
The indictment said nine male defendants between the ages of 16 and 22 were told that if they did "community service," Boeckmann would dismiss their cases. In many cases, the indictment said, the judge gave his personal telephone number to the defendants.

The indictment added that Boeckmann would photograph defendants as they picked up litter in "compromising positions." In one case, the judge offered a defendant the option to have his case dismissed by being photographed naked, or while fondling himself or being paddled on his bare buttocks, the indictment said.

Boeckmann's attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock, did not return telephone messages Monday.

In December, Boeckmann denied allegations of wrongdoing made by the state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.

In a response to the commission Dec. 15, Rosenzweig wrote that Boeckmann denied any sexual or "otherwise improper motivation for any photography." He said that any pictures taken were "solely for the purpose of recording proof of community service."

Emily White, deputy executive director of the Judicial Discipline Commission, said Boeckmann's case was "one of the worst in judicial misconduct" in Arkansas' history.

EMILY WHITE

"Any day I can turn my investigation over to law enforcement and get an indictment, we've done our job," White said Monday.

"The overwhelming majority of judges in this state are honest, fair and hardworking people," White said later in an emailed statement. "Mr. Boeckmann was an exception to that norm. I trust that the criminal conduct we uncovered through our ethical investigation will be fully handled by the agencies responsible for overseeing those areas of law."

NOTES MADE ABOUT THE BOECKMANN INVESTIGATION BY WHITE

Boeckmann, who was elected district judge in 2008, resigned in May and agreed never to seek public office. Filings by state ethics officials said Boeckmann's alleged inappropriate behavior dates as far back as the 1980s when he was a deputy prosecutor.

The day after Boeckmann resigned, three men who appeared before the judge on misdemeanor and traffic charges from 2009 to 2013 filed civil lawsuits against him. One plaintiff alleged Boeckmann photographed him naked and touched him. Another claimed he helped Boeckmann remove pornographic images from the judge's computer.

The indictment claims Boeckmann defrauded Cross, St. Francis and Crittenden counties; the cities of Wynne, Parkin and West Memphis; and the state courts of fines, fees and costs to which they were entitled to by dismissing the cases.

The indictment said Boeckmann would instruct defendants to pick up aluminum cans or litter and take them to the judge's house, or he would tell them to go to his house and he would go with the defendants to a location to pick up the trash.

Eight of the nine mentioned in the indictment were told that they could have their cases dismissed by being photographed picking up the litter. A ninth defendant, according to the indictment, would have his case dismissed by being photographed naked or by submitting to being paddled.

WILL PHOTOS LIKE THIS BE USED AS EVIDENCE?

 

Once Boeckmann finished photographing or paddling the person, the community service was deemed complete and the judge would dismiss the person's case, the indictment said.

"Boeckmann made ... false and fraudulent representations regarding the disposition of the cases," the indictment reads. "Those false and fraudulent representations were reflected in the docket sheets and other court documents related to the cases [of the defendants] stating the cases had been dismissed by reason of 'community service.' In fact, the actions performed ... at Boeckmann's direction were not performed for the purpose of 'community service,' but rather for Boeckmann's personal benefit."

The judge is accused of attempting to bribe one of the defendants to conceal what he had done. He is charged with witness tampering because the judge threatened another defendant to tell false information about Boeckmann to investigators, the indictment said.

Boeckmann also is charged with using interstate wires to defraud the state when he called and texted two defendants in Tennessee and texted another defendant between Nov. 1, 2014, and May 27, 2015, to tell him about each person's "community service," authorities said.

Boeckmann faces 10 charges of the violation of the federal travel act because he made telephone calls and enticed someone to travel from Tennessee to Arkansas, authorities said.

Want more information?  Here are some interesting articles about this case:

http://amppob.com/witnesses-investigator-know-boys/

http://amppob.com/the-investigator-and-the-judge/

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/injustice-investigators-say-judge-joseph-boeckmann-jr-of-wynne-abused-his-position-to-serve-his-sexual-desires/Content?oid=4454784

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This is not the first time Boeckmann has been involved in sketchy judicial behavior.

In 2011, Boeckmann received a Letter of Admonishment from the Arkansas Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission for violating judicial canons.

 

ARKANSAS MILITARY DEPARTMENT IN TURMOIL DUE TO FORMER EMPLOYEE CARLA DANIELS

 

CARLA L. DANIELS

The Arkansas Military Department is in a bad situation due to actions of a former employee, Carla L. Daniels. 

We first learned about Daniels last year and began looking into her and allegations made about her.

Daniels, until her resignation during an internal investigation, was the Fiscal Division Manager.

The internal investigation at the state resources department started in June 2016 with an anonymous letter, filled mostly with accusations about Daniels, the way she was hired, her conduct on the job and alleged nepotism. 

Lt. Col Joel Lynch said that the administrative leave was, "not just anything Ms. Daniels had done...but the overall policies of the state resources department. We're looking into that to see what happened and make sure everything's done correctly."

  

Apparently multiple complaints about her behavior and a lawsuit in Federal Court filed against her and the Military Department (keep reading)  must have slipped Lt. Col. Lynch's mind.

Many current and former coworkers revealed Daniels's history of temper tantrums at the office, the hiring of her own son and documents showing she should have never been hired in the first place.

"It's all part of the investigation, which we really can't comment on the details right now," Lt. Col. Lynch said. "We'll see how it all comes out. It wasn't a 100-percent slam dunk, if you will."

Daniels was put on paid administrative leave September 20th, three months after the investigation began.

"It became kind of clear that we needed to go to our separate corners and do that," Lt. Col. Lynch said. "Let's get the situation kind of calmed down while we sort through and complete the investigation."
 

When asked if her resignation took the department by surprise, Lt. Col. Lynch said, "Honestly, you'd have to talk to every individual in there. There's just a lot of dynamics going on in there right now."

When asked what kind of message her resignation sends to her employees and the rest of the state military department, he responded, "The situation that's been going on the past few months, obviously there's a lot of friction in there just because people have been sending anonymous letters, contacting the media and those kind of things so it was a tough situation. No matter what the outcome was going to be, it was really hard to accomplish the mission of the department of state resources."

While someone else temporarily heads up the state resources department, Lt. Col. Lynch expects the investigation to wrap up soon, answering what consequences, if any, Daniels would face and how her resignation would impact them.

"That's going to be something for the legal department to sort out," Lt. Col. Lynch said.

He said the investigation's findings will also tell them what policies, if any, need correcting, including employees being aware of and using the National Guard's internal grievance process.

"That's clear that that didn't happen in this case," Lt. Col. Lynch said. "Somebody felt that this grievance process wasn't going to work for them or didn't know it existed. So that's one thing that comes from this. There is a process for this to come out so people don't have to go to the media or go to some anonymous letter to bring this to light. There's a way internally that we can look out for all of our employees."

Lt. Col. Lynch also wanted to stress this one incident is not indicative of the entire state resources department, or the military department and National Guard for that matter.

"Nobody wants to dwell on this," he said. "Everybody wants to work in a positive work environment, and this will hopefully identify some things we can do to make that environment happen, move forward and keep doing the work for the people of Arkansas."

Good thing Lt. Col. Lynch has a gas mask because his statements regarding Daniels stinks.

Daniels secured a position for her son, Rashaad Daniels, in the security department, even though at least two females had asked Pulaski County Circuit Court judges to issues an Order of Protection against him as a result of domestic violence and one Protective Order had been issued and is still in force at this time.

Rashaad also resigned the position his mother had obtained for him.

This is not Carla's first time to have work related controversy.

Carla was fired by the city of Little Rock in 2003 as a result of outbursts of anger in the workplace that resulted in her no longer being able to instruct Anger Management of Workplace Violence Classes for the city of Little Rock.

Records obtained from the city of Little Rock indicate that Daniels had been suspended in 2002 and again in 2003 shortly before they fired her.

 

NOTICE THAT THIS DOCUMENT REFERS TO PREVIOUS INCIDENTS OF DANIELS' EXPLOSIVE TEMPER

Daniels appealed her termination to the Little Rock Civil Service Commission, and they upheld the decision to fire her, but only for "unsatisfactory work performance". 

We feel certain that reasons #1 and #2 had something to do with her abusive temper (they are redacted due to the decision of the Civil Service Commission).

Then a strange thing happened. After the city fired her, they let her resign.

We know that Carla Daniels was fired by the city of Little Rock because they sent us all this information in response to a FOI request.  The only way this information is subject to release is if an employee was fired. 

The city did not choose to respond to further questions about Daniels "resignation" after being fired.

CLICK TO VIEW DOCUMENTS FROM THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK 

Daniels holds (for now) certifications for Dispute Resolution Training and as a mediator.  How Daniels can hold these with her history of anger and outbursts is amazing and comical.

The big problem that the Arkansas Military Department has concerning Daniels is how they even hired her in the first place.

Documents obtained clearly show that Daniels was not high enough in the ranking process by an interviewing panel to even be considered for the position.

But somehow she made it on the list to be interviewed.

CLICK TO VIEW THE ENTIRE MYSTERIOUS FILE



The Military Department has given a suspicious response to questions about Daniels hiring stating they do not rank applicants and have no explanation as to how the handwritten documents were in Daniels hire packet and personnel file.

Apparently the Military Department investigators should be investigated.

Scroll up and look at the the bottom of the panel document.  See those signatures.  The Military Department investigators didn't. 

CLICK TO VIEW THE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ON DANIELS 

And there is that problem with a lawsuit filed by estranged employee Karen Norris.  We use the word estranged because she was fired by Carla Daniels, then she won her job back in a grievance hearing, but the Military Department didn't give her her job back, hence the lawsuit.

A quick look at Arkansas.gov and the state employee directory and transparency page does not have Karen Norris on the payroll at any state agency.

We did find some interesting information in emails of Daniels that the Military Department was less that excited to have to provide.

 Norris' EEOC compliant was not founded.

 
An email sent to Carla by a one of her employees sheds some light on the Norris matter as well as Carla's behavior.

This mess will not go away anytime soon and more information is sure to come to the surface. 

We will have another post in a few days about Daniels and how she used her connections and relationship with a Little Rock Police Officer to help her son Rashaad in one of those domestic violence court cases.

 Stay tuned.