Authorities accuse former Washington County deputy of insurance fraud

Steven Hulsey
Steven Hulsey

FAYETTEVILLE -- A former Washington County Sheriff's Office deputy who was arrested earlier this week on felony assault and domestic battery charges was charged Friday with insurance fraud.

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Prosecutor Matt Durrett charged Steven Hulsey, 43, with committing a fraudulent insurance act by listing Marketa Hulsey as his wife in an insurance application late last year despite having divorced her a decade earlier. The charge is a class D felony, the least severe felony category, and is punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Hulsey was a corporal with the Sheriff's Office before he resigned April 22 amid an internal investigation into the matter. An investigator with the Arkansas Insurance Fraud Investigation Division was also involved in bringing the charge.

Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay on Friday ordered Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith to prosecute the case to avoid a conflict of interest. Arraignment is set for May 27.

The day after Hulsey resigned, Greenland Police say he fought with and choked his ex-wife, according to a preliminary arrest report. He was arrested Monday in connection with the assault charges and with false imprisonment and terroristic threatening.

Hulsey was released Monday from the Washington County Detention Center on $5,000 bond. The new charge doesn't change his bond.

According to a preliminary police report on the assault arrest, Greenland officers went to 104 S. Napier Ave. at 3:23 p.m. April 23 after a report Hulsey was threatening "suicide by cop." He was barricaded in the master bedroom, according to the report.

After more than an hour of conversations with police, Hulsey left the bedroom and was taken to Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville for a possible self-induced prescription drug overdose, the report says.

The Hulseys argued several times for about a week about the Sheriff's Office internal investigation, according to the report. Marketa Hulsey told police her ex-husband choked her until she blacked out. After police were called, Marketa Hulsey left the house.

Police found a loaded assault rifle and a pistol in the room where Steven Hulsey barricaded himself.

He's a veteran crime scene investigator and undercover narcotics detective and worked for the Sheriff's Office for 19 years.

NW News on 05/02/2015

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