CONWAY — Jack Gillean, the University of Central Arkansas’ former chief of staff, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday with a new attorney - the same lawyer representing his former boss, ex-UCA President Allen Meadors.
Gillean is scheduled for arraignment in Faulkner County Circuit Court on three felony counts of commercial burglary, one felony count of fraudulent insurance acts and one misdemeanor count of issuing a false statement.
Gillean’s attorney, Nicki Nicolo, said she and attorneys Sam Perroni and Tim Dudley would be accompanying and representing Gillean.
Dudley is also the attorney for Meadors, who also is awaiting trial in Faulkner County on an unrelated misdemeanor charge. Nicolo had previously said Perroni was consulting on the case.
Meadors, 65, is chargedwith one count of solicitation of tampering with a public document as the result of a mishandled food vendor’s $700,000 offer to renovate the UCA-owned president’s home. Meadors, who now lives in North Carolina, resigned in September 2011.
Gillean resigned June 15 after being asked about his grand-master key. Authorities said it had been used in an on-campus prescriptiondrug theft by a UCA student who had that key and another of Gillean’s keys.
Authorities contend that Gillean, a former deputy attorney general, gave the two keys and a key card to the student to steal tests.
Gillean accompanied the student, ex-Marine Cameron Stark, on one of the burglaries, the affidavit accompanying the charges says.
The test thefts took place between Feb. 13, 2011, and April 23, 2011, the affidavit says.
Meadors was still president then but is not accused of any involvement in the burglaries. Because Dudley represents both men, it is unclear what will happen ifGillean or Meadors is called to testify in the other man’s trial.
Faulkner County Prosecutor Cody Hiland said he had not known that Dudley was also representing Gillean, and he declined further comment. Nicolo said she did not see any conflict of interest in the matter.
Dudley did not return phone messages or an e-mail seeking comment.
In another development, UCA President Tom Courtway recently notified the university’s trustees that yet another key that Gillean had reported lost has been found.
That key was to the presidential office suite in Wingo Hall, where Gillean worked. The key was among others found in April but not linked to Gillean until last month, according to records obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
In an Oct. 29 e-mail to trustees, Courtway wrote that on Oct. 25, “the UCA Physical Plant received some keys from the UCA Police Department. Apparently, in April of this year a person reported some keys in a golf cart outside of Wingo Hall; a police officer came over and picked them up and then put the keys in the ‘lost and found’ box at the [Police Department].
“Apparently, nothing happened until last week, when the keys were taken to the key shop at the Physical Plant and checked,” Courtway continued. One of the keys “has been identified as Jack Gillean’s missing key to the presidential suite that he said was lost when he resigned.”
Courtway noted that, because of the missing office key, he had the presidential office suite re-keyed in June.
UCA police records indicate that someone notified police about the golf cart with keys in it at 5:06 p.m. April 16 and indicated that the cart had been “there for a while.”
According to an Oct. 26 e-mail from George McKee, UCA’s maintenance supervisor, to Larry Lawrence, physical plant director, and others, the keys found included the presidential suite key, a golfcart key, a house key and one that resembled a filing-cabinet key. UCA spokesman JeffPitchford said the school had not issued the house key.
Courtway said in July that Gillean had reported the grand-master key lost several months earlier.
The affidavit also alleges that Gillean’s UCA identification card - which could also be used as a card swipe to enter Wingo Hall, Laney Hall and another building - was used to enter Laney Hall five times in February, March and May of 2011.
All of those entries took place after normal class andbusiness hours - 11:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m., 12:59 a.m., 12:11 a.m. and 12:19 a.m.
Stark, 24, has told authorities that he broke into the Lewis Science Center, Laney Hall and Irby Hall on numerous occasions with the two keys and the card that Gillean gave him, the affidavit says.
At the time, Stark was enrolled in an organic-chemistry class taught by a professor whose office was in Laney Hall, the document states.
Stark, who made the dean’s list for the spring 2012 semester, no longer attends UCA.
Stark, who has limited immunity from prosecution, has not replied to requests for comment.
Nicolo has said Gillean professes his innocence. She also has said that “some revealing information” about Stark would “come to light soon,” but has declined to be specific.
The affidavit says other witnesses corroborate Stark’s allegations against Gillean. It does not identify them by name.
Commercial burglary is punishable by three to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The fraud charge - which stems from a wreck that authorities say Stark had on Gillean’s motorcycle - is punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The misdemeanor charge is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 17 on 11/18/2012