The state/region in brief

Officer quits amid paid-sex allegation

HOT SPRINGS - The Garland County sheriff ’s office received a resignation letter Thursday from a marine patrol officer accused of paying a teenage prostitute for sex and referring her to others, a news release said.

Neil Parliment, 39, was arrested last week on a federal charge of enticing an individual to engage in prostitution.

An FBI affidavit unsealed Monday detailed allegations that Parliment paid a 17-year-old Memphis prostitute who previously ran away from a Boston-area foster home to travel to Hot Springs.

The affidavit included accusations that he paid for her hotel room and gave her $250, in addition to sending her three or four more clients who each paid $250.

“There will still be no statements given by this agency regarding this case due to it being an active criminal investigation,” said the Thursday news release from Lt. James “Corky” Martin.

The release added, “Sheriff [Larry] Sanders asks that you don’t let the recent incidents and allegations reflect badly against the other 140-plus dedicated sheriff ’s office employees that are currently serving you. This agency takes all reports of wrongdoing very serious, and after they are investigated, the appropriate disciplinary action is taken.” - ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

SAU votes to bar guns on campuses

MAGNOLIA - The Southern Arkansas University board of trustees opted out of a new state law that would allow qualified, full-time faculty and staff members to carry concealed handguns on its campuses.

SAU operates its four-year institution in Magnolia, as well as a two-year school - Southern Arkansas University Tech in East Camden.

The board’s vote on the issue was unanimous, and there was little discussion on the matter, said Aaron Street, SAU’s assistant dean for integrated marketing and media relations.

The law, Act 226 of 2013, goes into effect Aug.

  1. The legislation will allow trained and licensed full-time faculty and staff members at the state’s colleges and universities to carry concealed handguns unless an institution’s governing board adopts a policy expressly disallowing it.

Boards of public institutions must renew those policies annually. None of the state’s higher education leaders have said they planned to allow concealed carry on their campuses.

  • ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Police: Man killed girlfriend with car

JONESBORO - A woman in Craighead County is dead after being crushed against a fence by a car, and her live-in boyfriend is charged with manslaughter.

The Craighead County sheriff ’s office said Thursday that 37-year-old1 year is sentence in Medicaid fraud

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A former public administrator in southwest Missouri has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for document fraud related to Medicaid.

Former Jasper County Public Administrator Rita Frances Hunter of Joplin pleaded guilty to document fraud last year for an incident that occurred in 2008.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Hunter must also pay $120,000 in restitution to the federal government under the sentence she received Thursday.

Prosecutors said Hunter directed employees to submit false Medicaid applications on behalf of wards of the state whose cases were handled by the public administrator’s office. The applications stated that people had less than $1,000 of assets, making them eligible for Medicaid, when they actually had more assets.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 06/22/2013

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