FAYETTEVILLE — The jury is still out in the corruption trial of former state Sen. Jon Woods.
The five-man, seven-woman jury began deliberations at 4 p.m. Tuesday, but had to recess at 5 p.m. because of unspecified commitments a juror needed to meet. Deliberations resumed at 8:30 a.m. today. U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks told the jurors they would have all the time they need to decide on the case, which has 15 charges against each of two defendants and two more on Woods alone.
Woods’ indictment was the first in what the U.S. attorney’s office and Brooks have said is a wide-ranging investigation into public corruption in Arkansas and other states. Since Jan. 4, 2017, four current or former legislators have pleaded guilty to corruption involving state General Improvement Fund grants.
Woods and Randell Shelton Jr., of Kemp, Texas, are charged in a kickback scheme involving Ecclesia College in Springdale. Woods is also charged in a similar scheme for AmeriWorks, a Bentonville nonprofit company.
“The government’s investigation into these and related matters is still ongoing, and it extends beyond the individuals and acts that have been charged in this particular case,” Brooks said in a March 2 ruling.
“Among other things, the investigation involved the tracing of legislative acts, the making and approval of GIF grants on a regional level, and the ensuing paper trail of disbursements, receipts and proof that all of the proceeds were used as authorized. This dragnet involved the collection of an enormous number of documents — a number that has been represented to the court as extending into the millions.”
Freedom of Information Act requests by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in January 2017 found at least three of the state’s eight economic development districts, which administered the General Improvement Fund grants, had been subpoenaed by federal investigators. Another development district would not confirm nor deny whether it had.
Since that time, staff for the state Legislature obtained permission to hire outside legal counsel to represent them in dealing with federal investigators who have requested more records relating to the improvement fund grants. The records include state legislators’ working papers.
Known to be overseeing the investigation are: U.S. attorneys for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Western District of Missouri, Western District of Arkansas and the Eastern District of Arkansas. Federal agencies involved in at least one of those investigations are the FBI, the IRS, Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services.
Woods faces 15 counts of fraud, all relating to either wire or mail transfers of money. Shelton is named in 14 of the fraud charges. Both 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. Woods cooperated with federal investigators from November 2015 through early 2016.
Woods and Shelton face up to 20 years in prison on each of the fraud and conspiracy charges, if convicted. Woods faces an additional 10 years on the money-laundering charge, if convicted. They may also be ordered to forfeit any money or property obtained through their actions, if found guilty.
AmeriWorks is a corporation formed by Milton R. “Rusty” Cranford, a lobbyist who is charged in Missouri with one count of conspiracy and eight counts of accepting bribes in an unrelated indictment.
Henry “Hank” Wilkins IV of Pine Bluff, a former state legislator, pleaded guilty Monday to accepting bribes. A U.S. attorney in Springfield, Mo., has said those bribes were from Cranford. Wilkins’ kickbacks first came to light in Cranford’s bond hearing in Missouri on March 16.
In addition to Wilkins, other current or former lawmakers who have pleaded guilty to corruption related to General Improvement Fund grants include: former state Rep. Micah Neal of Springdale; former state Rep. Eddie Cooper of Melbourne, former state Sen. Jake Files of Fort Smith.
Shelton and Woods were indicted in March 2017. An alleged co-conspirator, Oren Paris III, former president of Ecclesia College in Springdale, was indicted with Woods. They were first indicted on March 3 with a superseding indictment filed April 18 and a second superseding indictment filed Sept. 13.
Paris pleaded guilty April 4 to one count of conspiracy. He resigned as Ecclesia’s president and from the private, Christian college’s board before his guilty plea. His sentence is pending.
Paris disguised the kickbacks as consulting fees paid to Shelton’s business, Paradigm Strategic Consulting, according to the indictment. Shelton then passed the money along to Woods and former state Rep. Micah Neal of Springdale, the government contends.
Neal pleaded guilty Jan. 4, 2017, for his role in the scheme and was the government’s first witness in the case. His sentence is also pending.
The kickback allegations involve $550,000 of the more than $717,500 in Improvement Fund grants, the U.S. Department of Justice contends. Woods directed the most grant money Ecclesia received at more than $350,000, court records show.
Woods directed a $200,000 grant to Ecclesia in September 2013, grant records show. Neal supported a $50,000 grant to the college and Woods another $150,000 in December 2014, also according to grant records. The amount of money Woods is accused of receiving as a kickback isn’t specified in the indictment. It claims much of that money was paid in cash, except for the $40,000 wire transfer from Shelton.
That Oct. 1, 2013, wire transfer was a loan, Shelton’s defense contends.
Woods and Neal also directed $400,000 in grant money to AmeriWorks, court and state records show. Neal said he received $20,000 delivered by Woods for steering $125,000 to AmeriWorks. Grant records show Woods directed $275,000 to the company.
Cranford described AmeriWorks in a grant application as a work-training program. Cranford, 56, is set for trial June 11 in federal court in Springfield on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of accepting bribes in an unrelated indictment.
