MARK A. BROOKE - HANDCUFFED AND HEADED TO JAIL

Mark Brooke, a probation officer for the city of Ward and pastor of Cornerstone Assembly in Ward, has been arrested on a charge of solicitation of prostitution after arrangements for sex were made with an undercover detective.

The Lonoke County sheriff’s office said in a statement that it began an undercover investigation after receiving complaints of possible unethical actions involving Brooke.

Brooke made “lewd and inappropriate comments” while talking with the undercover detective posing as a probationer.

Brooke later made arrangements for sex in exchange for money with the detective while using his city-provided cellphone.

 

Brooke was arrested around 2:30 p.m. January 18th by Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley and sheriff’s detectives.

LONOKE CO. SHERIFF JOHN STALEY

Staley stated that it is never good when someone in a position of authority takes advantage of those in difficult situations; this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Arkansas Department of Community Correction made social media posts to proudly proclaim Brooke was not one of their employees.

We previously posted about an ACC Probation Officer, Roderick Daniels, that was arrested and plead guilty to a felony charge.  Roderick the Felon is now employed by the failed Pulaski County Special School District at Robinson Middle School even though this blog proved to the PCSSD that he lied multiple times on his application for employment and hid his felony conviction.  You can read about that here.

Daniel's mother, Carla Daniels, has also been featured in several stories here as well. 

MONTICELLO MAYOR RESIGNS AS PART OF DEAL WITH PROSECUTOR - HIS FAMILY HOCKS HOUSE TO PAY RESTITUTION

 

FORMER MONTICELLO MAYOR ZACK TUCKER (ON LEFT)

Back on September 18th we posted a story about Monticello Mayor Zack Tucker.  Tucker had been arrested and charged with  tampering with a public record (Class D Felony) and abuse of office (Class B misdemeanor).  You can read our previous post here.

In a Drew County Circuit Court filing Tuesday, Tucker's attorney, Hani Hashem of Monticello, wrote that Tucker had "engaged in significant negotiations regarding a plea agreement."

HANI HASHEM

Hashem wrote that Tucker has agreed to enter a guilty plea and will pay immediate restitution. The former mayor told Circuit Judge Bynum Gibson that he had secured more than 50 percent of the amount required for restitution and that a family member had agreed to cosign a loan for the remaining amount.

Tucker said the paperwork securing the loan was submitted to a bank, which would determine if it would lend funds based upon the family member's signature. If the bank denies the loan application, Hashem wrote, Tucker has agreed to make monthly payments in restitution. So much for the immediate restitution.

Gibson gave Tucker until March 6th to decide which restitution option he would take, Drew County Circuit Clerk Beverly Burks said.

Hashem said later Tuesday that he would not allow his client to speak to the news media while the case was ongoing.

Tucker submitted his resignation on January 17th.

At the root of the case was an April 3, 2015 check for $22,500 from the City of Monticello Advertising & Promotion Commission Fund that was made payable to the Economic Development Fund of Monticello ("EDFM"). The check bears Tucker’s signature and was endorsed on the reverse side by Tucker.

Also, an invoice was submitted to the City of Monticello for $22,500 purportedly for half of the cost of engineering fees for a proposed convention center. The invoice appears to have been submitted to the city by the EDFM. However, the EDFM did not approve, issue or authorize the invoice, according to the EDFM.

The money went to an entertainment company to pay for the cost of entertainment at the local forestry festival. Neither the city council nor the A&P Commission authorized the expenditure.

When the plea deal is filed we will post an update.

SKULDUGGERY, SHENANIGANS AND VIOLATIONS OF THE ARKANSAS FOI ACT IN BOONE COUNTY

In two previous posts (here and here) we have detailed less that cooperative response from David Ethredge, the Boone County Prosecuting Attorney, and Rhonda Watkins, the Boone County Circuit Clerk, in their complying with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

 

DAVID ETHREDGE & RHONDA WATKINS

This evening at approximately 6:30PM, the publisher of this blog received a certified envelope from Watkins that contained these documents.  

The first document in the packet was a copy of a Motion to Seal, for a civil court case.

Back on December 16th, we sent a FOI request to the Boone County Circuit Clerk using the email address "jsteen@boonecounty-ar.gov".  We obtained that email address from an online document located at here.

We never received a response, nor did we receive any message from the county email server that the email address we used was not active.

Then on January 9th, we contacted the Boone County Circuit Clerk's office by telephone, inquiring as the why they had failed to respond to our FOI request. 

Watkins advised us that she never received the email and after telling her the email address we used.  Watkins stated that that email address was for the previous clerk.  We advised her that it was still active as it was not bounced back from the county server as undeliverable. Watkins asked us to send it to her so we forwarded it to her at "rwatkins@boonecounty-ar.gov.

We also sent a FOI request for filings in a civil case filed by Shannia Rutt against Brittney Breedlove.

SHANNIA RUTT & BRITTNEY BREEDLOVE

Watkins tried the same lame excuse that Ethredge tried to use in not providing his file for the documents filed in Breedlove criminal case - that there was an order sealing the file.

As we pointed out in our previous posts, the one sealed record that Ethredge provided to us clearly states that once Breedlove entered a guilty plea, the seal was lifted. We stated our position to her and she had no response.

As you can see, Watkins maintains that order sealing the criminal case does not state that the seal is lifted upon a guilty plea.

Watkins did not provide any of the documents from the civil case, except for the motion to seal (more on that in a minute) and her failure to provide the documents is a violation of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Attentive readers will have noticed that the motion to seal in the civil case was faxed to the circuit clerk's office at 14:30 or 2:30 p.m. and filed at 2:41 p.m. Our email to her reminding her that the time for her to respond had passed was sent at 11:30 a.m.  We checked for additional filing in the criminal case as there was a hearing for a petition that day and just out of curiosity we looked at the civil case.  We noticed that Rutt had filed the motion to seal and mentioned that in our last email to Watkins.

Did Watkins contact Rutt and tell her that a FOI request for the case filings had been received?  There is no provision in the AFOIA to do so. 

Watkins had and has an obligation under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act to provide the filings

Rutt did not seek a temporary restraining order to prevent any release of documents and her son, who is now an adult (18yrs), is not a party to the action.  Nor is his child (any guess on who the mother is?).  

There is nothing to prevent Watkins from complying with our FOI request except her unwillingness to do so.

Watkins has positioned herself to be charged with a criminal offense for her willful violation of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Ethredge has not made any further contact with the publisher of this blog, nor has he provided a copy of his file. Like Watkins, Ethredge has positioned herself to be charged with a criminal offense for her willful violation of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

We will pursue all legal remedies available to us and Ethredge and Watkins might have actions filed against them other that an appeal of denial of rights under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

  


  

DID NW ARKANSAS LEGISLATORS FUNNEL MONEY TO A QUESTIONABLE SALINE COUNTY ENTITY FOR KICKBACKS?

Documents obtained from the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District ("NWAEDD") revel that former state Representative and now convicted felon Micah Neal along with outgoing state Senator Jon Woods, state Senator Bart Hester and state Representative Jana Della Rosa directed GIF monies totaling almost $50,000 from NW Arkansas to a questionable entity in Central Arkansas (Benton-Saline County), Arkansas Health and Economic Research, Inc. ("AHER"). 

 

NEAL, WOODS, HESTER & DELLA ROSA

AHER claimed in the documents that it was "a repository for knowledge and understanding of health research equipment and alternative health practices. As a result of identifying and researching these types of alternative modalities, such as the use of minerals and the use of applied Ozone Therapy to prevent or treat certain health aliments, we will provide economic development in Arkansas via connecting Arkansas businesses with established distribution channels, manufacturing opportunities, and we will provide educational support for the Arkansas Medical Community in the use of these modailities."

This organization sounds awfully like the 19th century snake oil and patent medicine quack scammers.

In fact, ozone therapy has been linked to several deaths.

AHERS was the brainchild of Benton insurance agent Charles Snider.

CHARLES JULIAN SNIDER

 Snider also has another registered entity at the same location.

 Snider also dabbled in home repair.

Snider's first grant application to NWAEDD was in 2013.  He asked for $30,000 and he got it thanks to Jon Woods and Micah Neal.

 Next Snider asked for a $5,000 grant in January 2014.

There was no award letter in the file sent to us by NWAEDD but a sticky not on one of the documents has "On Bart's Behalf" and another has the initials "BH and JW" on it indicating authorization.

Then in December 2014, Snider asked for another $5,000. But he only received $4,198.00 with the blessings of Micah Neal.

In June 2015, Snider asked for a $10,00 grant. 

According to document we received, he only was awarded $2,500.

Apparently the well was running dry with all that money going to Ecclesia College and AmeriaWorks and Representative Jana Della Rosa was recruited to step in and help Snider out. Guess who arranged that?

We could not locate any research or publications by Snider's organization. This appears to have been another shell company to grease the government wheels.

Has Snider brokered a deal with the U.S. Attorney?  Could be. He has not responded to our email asking questions.

Stay tuned cause this mess is nowhere near over.

CLICK TO VIEW ALL OF SNIDER'S GRANT DOCUMENTS 


**UPDATE - 01/16/17*** 

The old strip center in Benton that Snider claimed he operated his research and information repository out of is apparently part of a family property management company.

Jan Green Snider or her family has several business entities listed as operating out of that location.

Messages to Jan Green Snider have not been returned.  

Check out this story about her that appeared in Soiree and this one that appeared in a Methodist Family Health publication. 

Snider's "Healing Center" apparently was operated out of his home. Snider ran into some porblems with the IRS as well.

We believe that Snider set up his shell companies just to scoop up the GIF monies. This document supports that belief.

 

Once the GIF monies dried up it appears that he had no further business operations with this shell company.


 
 

MORE NEWS IN LEGISLATIVE KICKBACK SCANDAL

It appears that Preferred Family Healthcare ("PFH") has decided to distance itself from Rusty Cranford as his replacement has been announced.

RUSTY CRANFORD

Cranford was the individual that established a shell company, AmeriWorks, that received $400,000 from the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District ("NWEDD") at the direction of former state Representative Micah Neal and outgoing state Senator Jon Wood.  According to Neal's plea deal, both Neal and Wood received kickbacks from Cranford for their help in his obtaining the funds.

You can check out our previous posts about the scandal here and here.

Cranfords replacement is Charlie Green, director of the Behavioral Health Services Division with the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

CHARLIE GREEN

Green said he will become chief executive of Preferred Family Healthcare Arkansas on January 30th.

Green's resignation from the Department of Human Services takes effect January  27th,  according the DHS Deputy Chief of Communications, Brandi Hinkle.

BRANDI HINKLE - ONE OF DHS' TALKING HEADS

Reggie McElhannon, a spokesman for Preferred Family Healthcare, has said Decision Point had planned to pass the grant to AmeriWorks but ended up returning it instead. He has denied that Preferred Family Healthcare paid any kickbacks.

REGGIE MCELHANNON - PFH SPOKESMAN

McElhannon's statement about turning the funds over to Cranford's shell company AmeriWorks, conflicts with statements he issued last week denying any "legal connection" to AmeriWorks.

Besides at the time the funds were issued to AmeriWorks in 2013, and returned by Cranford in 2014, PFH had not merged with Decision Point. The merger took place a year later in 2015.  

This is the statement McElhannon provided to use last week:

This is the letter Cranford sent with a check for the return of the $400,000 to NWAEDD.

Did you notice that the check was drawn from the Missouri bank account of Dayspring Behavioral Health Services?  How did they get the funds?

McElhannon issued a statement on Friday that stated  Cranford is "in a voluntary inactive role with our organization."

No doubt, Cranford is probably on his way to prison with Neal, unless he cut a deal with the U.S. Attorney.

We received additional documents from the NWAEDD this week and we found some interesting information.

Crandford's funding request packet had a nice handwritten note from Senator Jon Wood that stated "AmeriWorks is pretty solid".

 

The funny thing is that AmeriWorks didn't officially exist until after Cranford made his grant application.  Cranford filed paperwork with the Arkansas Secretary of Sate the very day NWAEED cut him the checks totally $400,000.

We suspect Cranford was laughing all the way to the bank.

Documents that we obtained from NWAEDD related to funds they releaseds has some other interesting information and you can expect more posts to follow.