Man guilty: $182,728 taken, no children fed

Less than a week before his jury trial was to begin, Reuben Nims of Little Rock admitted receiving more than $180,000 in federal funds by falsely claiming to have fed hundreds of underprivileged children.

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In fact, authorities say, not a single child was fed by Nims' nonprofit organization, Blessed Thru Success, through which he claimed to have provided after-school snacks and meals to up to 300 children at a time in Little Rock on 10 occasions between November 2013 and September 2014.

Nims, 52, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a mail-fraud conspiracy charge, admitting to U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. that he submitted false claims to the federal government, through the state Department of Human Services, to receive the undeserved "reimbursements" of federal funds. The reimbursement requests he submitted claimed his organization operated a feeding site at Markham Street and Rodney Parham Road, in the middle of the city.

The funds were provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Child and Adult Care Feeding Program, which includes an after-school component that pays for a snack or a meal for children in low-income areas. The programs were administered in Arkansas through the state Department of Human Services, where Nims' sister-in-law, Gladys Waits, was an employee.

Nims acknowledged using his family connections to Waits, who also is known as Gladys King, to submit an application to become a sponsor, which Waits approved, allowing him to participate.

In return, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris, Nims handed over a good portion of the money he received through the scam to Waits' husband, Anthony Leon Waits.

Harris told Moody that Nims received $182,728.65 in federal "reimbursements' in 2013 and 2014. She said he later withdrew $130,000 of those funds, giving about half the cash to Anthony Waits.

Gladys Waits and Anthony Waits, both of England, are scheduled to be tried by a federal jury beginning May 16 on numerous fraud charges. Gladys Waits, 36, was one of three Arkansas women arrested in December 2014 on accusations of concocting the scam through which they reportedly pocketed more than $1 million altogether. The other two women are Tonique Hatton, 38, of North Little Rock and Jacqueline Mills, 40, of Helena-West Helena.

Anthony Waits, 37, was added to the indictment Nov. 4, along with Dortha Harper, 51, also known as Dorothy Harper, who also is from England. The Waitses, Harper, Hatton and Mills are to be tried together in May.

In December, a federal magistrate judge ordered Anthony Waits to remain in federal custody pending trial, after FBI Agent Rick McLain testified about Waits' history of violence as documented by a rap sheet in Little Rock dating back to 1997.

Nims was represented Tuesday by attorney Brooks Wiggins of Benton. In return for his guilty plea, Harris recommended that 10 counts of mail fraud Nims faced be dismissed, and Moody dismissed them.

Nims will be sentenced sometime after a pre-sentence report is prepared, which usually takes 60 to 90 days. He faces prison time of up to 20 years and mandatory restitution.

Metro on 03/09/2016

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