Ex-clerk's bail lowered to $35,000 in theft case

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Leon Johnson reduced from $200,000 to $35,000 the bail of a fired county clerk accused of stealing from the county's insurance provider after hearing testimony Friday that the 60-year-old woman is in poor health, almost blind and has limited financial resources to afford bail.

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Accused of stealing $248,530, Wanda Wyatt of Bryant has been in jail since her June arrest on felony theft and forgery charges that together carry a maximum of 60 years in prison. She remained in the Pulaski County jail Friday afternoon.

Wyatt, who worked for the county for 17 years, is accused of stealing from the Central Arkansas Risk Management Association, an insurance pool of several area governmental bodies including Pulaski County, while working as a clerk at the county's road and bridge department over two time periods: May 5, 2010, through Sept. 15, 2010, and July 5, 2013, through June 10, 2016. The second period ended three weeks before her arrest.

She was fired after sheriff's deputies confronted her about 80 checks from the risk management group she'd deposited into her personal account.

Wyatt was in court Friday to ask for a bail reduction. She didn't testify, and her trial is scheduled for January.

Describing the charges against her, sheriff's investigator Emmit Rider told the judge that Wyatt took advantage of her position as the fleet service clerk in the county Road and Bridge Department in charge of handling all claims against the county for traffic collisions.

He told Johnson that Wyatt would create fake collision reports to submit to the insurance company for payment showing the county to be at fault. She would then have the resulting settlement check sent to her office or arrange to pick it up herself.

The claimants on those checks would be fake identities she created using the names of relatives and even the names of deputies, Rider testified.

Wyatt confessed when deputies confronted her with bank records from her account, he said.

Deputy prosecutor Adam Childers did not suggest a bail amount for the judge but asked him to consider the amount of money she's accused of stealing.

Wyatt has never been in trouble with the law before, and defense attorney Lou Marczuk asked for $10,000 bail, citing her cooperation with authorities, close ties to the community and poor health.

Marczuk presented friends and relatives who told the judge that they would guarantee Wyatt would attend all court hearings if she was able to get out of jail. She has nowhere to go outside the state because all of her immediate family is in central Arkansas, according to testimony.

Her daughter, Kim McAllister of Benton, told the judge that Wyatt has diabetes, a heart blockage being controlled by medication and high blood pressure, but that she questions whether her mother has been getting all of her medicine since she's been jailed.

Wyatt also has sleep apnea, a condition that causes her to stop breathing while she sleeps, but is not allowed to have a breathing machine while in jail.

McAllister also said her mother's eyesight is so poor that she's considered legally blind and has been considering giving up her driver's license.

Wyatt has also had major surgeries on her neck and back and has had to have a stent implanted because of heart disease, McAllister told the judge. Wyatt currently has two heart blockages that are being monitored by doctors and controlled through medication that could require another stent, she said.

McAllister also told the judge that her mother has little income and that Wyatt's third husband recently filed for divorce.

In her application to be represented by the public defender, Wyatt reported earning $12,000 annually while working for the county. Wyatt also reported owing $5,000 in medical bills.

Her mother is going to apply for disability income, McAllister said, and her county retirement will pay her $566 per month, which will increase by about $100 when Wyatt turns 62.

Family friend Brandi Crabtree, whose family owns the Colton's Steak House in Benton, said she was willing to give Wyatt a hostess job at the eatery as soon as Wyatt could start work.

Older sister Kathy Chism of Scott told the judge that Wyatt would live with her if she can get out of jail.

Metro on 08/27/2016

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