Woods, others claim innocence in alleged kickback scheme

Jon Woods (from left) Randell Shelton Jr. and Oren Paris
Jon Woods (from left) Randell Shelton Jr. and Oren Paris

FAYETTEVILLE -- The three defendants accused of participating in a kickback scheme involving state grants pleaded not guilty to a revised set of charges today.

Defense attorneys also spoke about claims they made in a motion earlier this week that the government is not providing the electronic records to be used as evidence against their clients in a usable form. .

Former state Sen. Jon Woods of Springdale; Oren Paris III, president of Ecclesia College in Springdale; and consultant Randell G. Shelton Jr., formerly of Alma, are accused in a federal indictment of participating in a kickback scheme.

Woods faces 15 counts of fraud, all relating to either wire or mail transfers of money. Paris and Shelton are named in 14 of the fraud charges. All three are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Woods is also charged with one count of money laundering in connection with the purchase of a cashier's check.

The case involves grants from the state General Improvement Fund, which is controlled by legislators. The fund consists of state tax money left unallocated at the end of each fiscal year and interest earned on state deposits. Each legislator is given a share of the fund to be directed to a nonprofit group or government entity.

The Justice Department alleges Paris paid Woods and former state Rep. Micah Neal of Springdale kickbacks in return for a total of $550,000 in grants from those two legislators to his college from 2013 through 2014.

Woods is also accused of using his office to pass legislation in 2015 that would have created a special General Improvement Fund account in the state Department of Higher Education of up to $2.5 million. The fund would benefit only work-learning colleges that are "part of the Works College Consortium." The only college in Arkansas that is a member of that consortium is Ecclesia, according to the consortium's website. The law is still on the books, but no money was ever appropriated to the account, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration.

Shelton is accused of using a consulting firm he owned as a way to pass along the kickbacks to Neal and Woods through consulting fees approved by Paris.

Ecclesia, a private, Christian college, also received improvement fund grants from other lawmakers who are not implicated in the indictments, grant records show. In all, the college received $717,500 in improvement fund grants from 2013 through 2014.

Neal, a Republican, pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, admitting that he took two kickbacks totaling $38,000 in exchange for directing improvement fund grants to two nonprofits. He has not been sentenced.

All three defendants are set for trial in Fayetteville on Dec. 4

NW News on 09/27/2017

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