Crittenden County Man Pleads Guilty In Political Corruption Case

A Crittenden County man who was on probation after pleading guilty in 2013 to a federal conspiracy charge involving a former state representative has pleaded guilty to a another conspiracy charge in a case involving yet another state representative.

Phillip W. Carter waived indictment and pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to defraud the Arkansas Department of Human Services, court records indicated.

The new case involves allegations of a conspiracy between Carter, former State Rep. Steve Jones, D-Marion, and two other people (Person A and Person C), who were not named in court papers.

Jones, who pleaded guilty to two counts of bribery and one count of conspiracy, will be sentenced Oct. 8 in federal court in Little Rock.

ALLEGATIONS
In the paperwork, federal authorities outlined what they say was a conspiracy among Jones, Carter and the other two people.

“Person A was a resident of Crittenden County and was the Pastor and Superintendent of a church located in West Memphis. Carter was a juvenile probation officer and city council member for West Memphis and was also affiliated with Person A’s church,” the paperwork noted. “Jones was a Deputy Director of ADHS (Arkansas Department of Human Services from in or about April 2007 to in or about July 2013. …. As an employee and high ranking manager, Jones was an agent of ADHS and he was responsible for, among other things, overseeing five of ADHS’s ten divisions. Person C was the owner of two mental health companies, Company A and Company B. Company A provided outpatient mental health services to juveniles. Company B provided inpatient mental health services to juveniles.”

Prosecutors allege that the conspiracy happened between April 2007 and November 2011 when “Jones solicited and received things of value, including cash payments, from Person C.”

Person C would then give “things of value” to Jones through Carter, Person A and intermediaries, prosecutors said.

“In return for cash payments and other things of value, Jones agreed to perform official acts for the benefit of Person C, Company A and Company B,” prosecutors said in the paperwork.

Carter, Jones and Person C would also have secret meetings at restaurants “in Memphis or rural Arkansas so they would not be easily recognized.”

“At the meetings, they discussed the business interests of Person C, Company A and Company B, and Jones agreed to take official acts to benefit Person C, Company A and Company B, including providing internal ADHS information to Person C. Prior to or during the meetings …. Person C would provide Carter with checks from companies associated with Person C that were made payable to Person A’s church. After the restaurant meetings, Carter would provide the checks to Person A, who typically deposited the checks or caused the checks to be deposited into church-related checking accounts (including an account associated with the church’s child development center) and received cash in return – either directly from the church related accounts or after transferring the money from the church-related accounts to a personal checking account.”

Prosecutors allege Person A would then provide Carter with all or part of the money, and Carter, in turn would give all or part of the money to Jones during subsequent meetings.

HALLUM CASE
Carter was sentenced to three years’ probation in May 2013 and given 100 hours of community service, after pleading guilty in the Hudson Hallum case.

Hallum; Hallum’s father, Kent; Carter; and former West Memphis police officer Sam Malone pleaded guilty in Sept. 2012 to conspiracy to bribe voters to influence absentee votes in a 2011 special state House election.

The Hallum’s were sentenced to three years’ probation and sentenced to nine months’ home confinement in June 2013.

Malone was also sentenced to three years’ probation in the case.

Carter is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 18, 2016 on the new case.