Former Treasurer Martha Shoffner Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison

Former Democratic State Treasurer Martha Shoffner has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for her convictions on extortion and bribery charges.

Shoffner, 71, appeared before U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes in a Little Rock federal courtroom for sentencing on Friday morning.

Shoffner has been given 60 days to report and Judge Holmes said he would recommend the disgraced former elected official be sent to Fort Worth, Texas for her 30-month term.

She was also ordered to pay nearly $32,000 in restitution for her role in a scheme to steer bond business from the state to a Russellville-based firm. When her sentence is completed, she will have a two-year supervised parole period.

Shoffner was found guilty on all 14 counts of bribery and extortion she was facing from federal prosecutors in March 2014.

She was proven to have taken $36,000 from bond broker Steele Stephens, who formerly worked for St. Bernard Financial Services of Russellville, in exchange for state business.

In her trial, Stephens admitted he made nearly $2.5 million in broker commissions off of state bond business that Shoffner steered his way. She had contended that her direction of bond business to St. Bernard and Stephens was not done because of the money or gifts she received from him, which consisted of cash delivered in a pie box on several occasions.

Prosecutors had asked last month for a sentence of 15 to 18 years in prison, while attorneys for Shoffner recommended a 12 to 18 month sentence, with some time in a half-way house and some in home detention.