Sentencing Date Set For Former Sen. Bookout

A former state senator who pleaded guilty earlier this year to mail fraud in a campaign finance scandal will appear before a federal judge later this year for sentencing.

According to federal court records online Thursday, a Nov. 23 sentencing date was set for Paul Bookout at 11:30 a.m. in Room 2D of the federal courthouse in Little Rock before Chief Judge Brian S. Miller.

Bookout, who previously served as Arkansas Senate President Pro Tempore, pleaded guilty March 11 to one count of mail fraud in front of Miller.

Bookout had been under investigation by state and federal law enforcement after an ethics complaint was filed in 2013 by Bob Hester of Jonesboro.

The Arkansas Ethics Commission voted 4-0 in Aug. 2013 that Bookout used $53,305.07 in campaign donations for his personal use, failed to keep sufficient records of expenses during the 2012 election and failed to itemize 93 expenditures, totaling $39,646.94.

Bookout received $80,950 in donations and spent $63,269.07, ethics officials said.

“Of the $63,269.07 in total expenditures, only $9,964 was shown by the respondent to be proper campaign expenses. With respect to the balance of $53,305.07, the Respondent (Bookout) made person personal use of campaign funds,” then-chairman J. Barrington Minix said in the report.

At least $18,200 of the $53,305.07 was placed into a bank account with Bookout’s personal funds, officials said at the time.

The commission fined Bookout $4,000 and issued a letter of reprimand. Soon after, Bookout resigned his job with St. Bernards Healthcare and his senate seat in late Aug. 2013.

INDICTMENT
The indictment in March alleged that Bookout deposited campaign donations from his 2010 and 2012 races into two bank accounts.

Prosecutors alleged Bookout put $126,500 into one account from May 2009 and December 2012; and $62,750 into another account from March 2012 to July 2013.

“The information alleges that between May 2009 and July 2013, Bookout unlawfully made payments totaling $150,048.12 from those accounts for personal items and expenses including clothing for Bookout and family members, a sound system installed in Bookout’s home, golf clubs, country club pro shop expenses, sporting goods, liquor, household furnishing, tanning sessions, manicures and travel expenses unrelated to his re-election campaigns,” prosecutors said in a press release March 11.

Prosecutors also alleged that the “monthly CCE reports (Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Reports from the Secretary of State’s office) prepared, signed and filed by Bookout in 2010 and 2012 falsely claimed that the unlawful payments made from his campaign accounts were legitimate campaign related expenses.”

Also, the mail fraud charge was due to Bookout mailing a fraudulent report to the Secretary of State in late 2012, federal prosecutors said in March.

Bookout, who waived formal indictment to plead guilty, has cooperated fully with investigators in his case, his attorney, Bill Stanley said in March.