Prentice Nigel Hall on Monday became the 17th person to be charged in an ongoing federal investigation into a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture by falsely claiming to have fed children in low-income areas in Arkansas.
Hall pleaded guilty to a wire-fraud conspiracy charge before U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, admitting that from Jan. 20, 2013, through June 12, 2013, he illegally obtained $882,667.95 by submitting five false claims that he had provided after-school snacks or meals to children in four central Arkansas locations.
Hall filed the claims electronically as a state-approved sponsor for a USDA feeding program administered by the state Department of Human Services. Two former department employees, Gladys Elise Waits and Tonique Hatton, have pleaded guilty to participating in the fraud scheme by approving applications from sponsors they knew intended to commit fraud and also by approving the sponsors' designated feeding sites. In reality, far fewer children were fed than claimed, and in many cases, no children were ever fed.
Waits and Hatton, both of whom are in prison, admitted to recruiting some of the fake sponsors and taking kickbacks as compensation.
According to Hall's plea agreement, he claimed to operate an organization he called Creative Minds At-Risk, which he said provided food at four sites: one each in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Woodson and Mabelvale. Hall claimed to feed up to 847 children at a time at an address at 8508 Kanis Road in Little Rock. He also claimed to feed about the same number of children at 320 N. Locust St. in North Little Rock, at a Baptist church in Woodson and at 14036 Sardis Road in Mabelvale.
All the claims were paid through electronic transfers that traveled through interstate commerce from the state to Hall's bank account, according to the felony information to which he pleaded guilty.
When sentenced at a later date, Hall faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution to the USDA is mandatory.
So far, the investigation that first resulted in indictments in late 2014 has resulted in the discovery of more than $13 million worth of fraud.
Two people who have pleaded guilty in the scheme are still awaiting sentencing.
Metro on 02/15/2018