Embezzlement
cited at Star City
An indictment filed Thursday in federal court in Little Rock accuses Donald Earl Dodson of embezzling $109,000 from the Star City Housing Authority with help from someone identified only as “EAD,” who is described as the executive director of the authority between February 2010 and May 2012, when the purported thefts occurred.
The indictment, handed up Wednesday by a federal grand jury, refers to “EAD” as someone who is known to the grand jury but hasn’t been indicted.
According to the indictment, the executive director “would create false charges and fraudulent invoices for construction and maintenance,” and then pay Dodson. The two would then cash the checks and use the money for their personal use, the indictment states.
“Such conduct would cause the appearance that the director was writing checks to pay for construction and maintenance work being performed for the housing authority” by Dodson, the document states.
Dodson is also accused of conspiring with the unnamed director to embezzle housing authority funds on seven occasions.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Innocent pleaded
by mayor in fraud
JACKSON, Miss. - A Mississippi mayor has pleaded innocent to charges in a purported scheme run by a Memphis educator who helped prospective teachers in three states - including Arkansas - cheat on certification exams over a 15-year period.
Metcalfe Mayor Corey Holmes appeared Wednesday in federal court in Memphis.
He remains free on his own recognizance. No trial date has been set.
The indictment alleges Holmes paid Clarence Mumford in 2008 to have a ringer take three different exams - one each in Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee. The ringer had Holmes’ Social Security card and paid for the exam with Mumford’s credit card.
Holmes is charged with wire fraud, conspiracy and Social Security fraud.
If convicted, Holmes could be sentenced to up to five years.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Hearing in Alamo case rescheduled
A federalmagistrate judge has rescheduled a hearing to address ownership of properties associated with imprisoned evangelist Tony Alamo to September.
Earlier this month, U.S.
Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant granted a motion for a continuance filed by Patrick Kilgore, a Clayton, Mo., attorney representing a large group of Alamo Ministries members. Kilgore’s motion cites a scheduling conflict.
The Sept. 6 hearing is meant to address ownership claims concerning six properties Bryant has ruled can be sold to partially satisfy a $30 million judgment Alamo owes to Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna, two men who sued the imprisoned evangelist for abuses they suffered as children raised in the ministry.
Alamo is serving a 175-year federal prison sentence for taking five girls he “wed” as children across state lines for sex.
Bryant ruled that the properties, although placed in the names of Alamo followers, are actually bought and controlled by Alamo for his benefit.
Many of the members have filed documents claiming the properties actually belong to Alamo Ministries, which Alamo loyalists describe as an unincorporated nonprofit organization, or alternatively, to the members collectively.
Texarkana lawyer David Carter said in a previous interview he does not believe Alamo Ministries should qualify as a nonprofit.
The properties at issue include the church building, a gym building, a warehouse, a restaurant parking lot, a restaurant and a residential house in Fort Smith.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Baby-monitoring
system wins prize
LITTLE ROCK - A system that allows parents to monitor their babies in neonatal intensive care is being awarded $50,000 by the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority.
The Angel Eye Camera System is a remote monitor developed by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The system allows parents, family members and friends to view and monitor an infant 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The system intends to promote bonding between parents and their premature babies who may be hospitalized for weeks or months after birth.
The funding is to be used to commercialize the Angel Eye system.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boy Scout mentor
gets 5-year term
SPRINGFIELD - A southwest Missouri man will serve five years in prison with no chance of parole for sexually abusing a 12-yearold boy he met through Boy Scouts.
Nicholas Rountree, 20, of Nixa was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in April to four counts of statutory sodomy in April.
The boy, now 14, was 12 when the abuse started.
Prosecutors say Rountree was the boy’s mentor at a Boy Scout troop.
The victim told his mother about the abuse after she became suspicious of Rountree’s friendship.
The Springfield News-Leader reports Rountree received the minimum sentence on each of the charges, to run concurrently.
He could have been sentenced to as many as 30 years in prison on each count. - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 07/13/2013