NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The Arkansas Ethics Commission has found probable cause that State Police Capt. Lance King violated state law when he accepted season football tickets, bowl tickets and a Sugar Bowl ring from the University of Arkansas’ football program.
King, who has been with Arkansas State Police for almost 25 years, did not return repeated calls for comment Monday afternoon. He supervises Troop L, one of the state’s largest state police units, serving Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.
Based in Springdale, King coordinated security for former Razorbacks Coach Bobby Petrino. King’s acceptance of the gifts came to light after King drove Petrino to the hospital after an April 1 motorcycle wreck. Petrino was fired April 10 after failing to disclose that he had a passenger during the motorcycle wreck, 25-yearold Jessica Dorrell, and for failing to tell his supervisors about his extramarital affair with Dorrell, who was a football program staff member.
Besides driving Petrino to Physicians Specialty Hospital in Fayetteville, King spoke with the coach by phone in the days after the wreck, according to university records and a state police statement.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and other news outlets raised questions after the wreck about gifts King might have received from the athletic department.
Arkansas ethics law generally forbids public employees, officials and other state workers from accepting gifts valued at more than $100.
The five-member ethics commission voted 4-0on June 15, with Chairman Paul Dumas absent, to issue a “public letter of caution” to King, according to an offer of settlement letter made public Monday. The ethics commission did not issue a fine.
A letter of caution is one of the commission’s mildest sanctions available, according to its rules of practice and procedure. The commission also can issue letters of warning and reprimand and can levy fines between $50and $2,000.
Director Graham Sloan referred to the settlement letter Monday and said, “I can’t say anything more about this case.”
Sloan did speak generally about the commission’s work, saying that when violations are found, “It’s not uncommon for there to be a letter only, sometimes a fine only, sometimes a letter and fine.”
King, 49, filed the ethics complaint against himself. It’s the first self-filed ethics complaint that Sloan said he has seen in 15 years in the ethics office.
King signed the settlement letter on June 21. In signing, the letter said, he agreed with the ethics commission’s finding “that you violated Ark. Code Ann. 21-8-801 (a) (1) in your capacity as a public servant by receiving gifts from the University of Arkansas football program ... which wereintended to reward you for doing your job as an employee of the Arkansas State Police.”
The letter listed gifts of four tickets each to all Razorback football games inFayetteville and Little Rock, four tickets to the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4, 2011, and four tickets to the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 5.
The letter did not contain a total value for the tickets, but a state police spokesman had earlier valued the tickets at $2,575.
The letter also listed a $225 Sugar Bowl ring state police earlier identified as a gift to King.
The letter did not list athletic clothing and a Sugar Bowl watch and paperweight that state police said King received. The total value of the tickets, ring, clothing and other items had been estimated at $3,111.
It’s not clear what steps the state police might take regarding King’s actions.
“Capt. King has been keeping his supervisors apprised,” said agency spokesman Bill Sadler. “We have not seen this document. Until we get the copy from the ethics commission that’s signed and have a discussion with legal counsel, there’s nothing for us to do at this time and nothing to say.”
University of Arkansas officials will have to decide whether to review any policies about awarding gifts to state workers, said Kevin Trainor, a spokesman for the athletic department.
“The university has requested a copy of the findings and will review the report to determine the appropriate actions to maintain compliance with the decision from the state ethics commission,” Trainor wrote in an e-mail Monday. “As of this afternoon, we have not had an opportunity to review.”
Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Threet said the matter likely belongs under the ethics commission’s jurisdiction and not the courts.
State laws vary widely for ethics violations regarding gifts to lawmakers and public servants, said Caitlin Ginley with The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit investigative news organization. The group recently conducted a nationwide survey of ethics and gift violations.
“Only a letter of caution going out, that’s pretty typical,” Ginley said. “Generally if you look at how these [ethics] commissions deal with ethics violations, it’s more often than not a slap on the wrist.”
The ethics commission will have to issue several more documents to close the matter, Sloan said.
The letter of caution itself hasn’t yet been written, he said. The commission’s policy says such letters are “advisory in nature, clearly giving notice to the respondent that his or her action or lack of action is a violation of law, and further advising the respondent not to engage in the same activity again.”
The commission also will draft a final action letter and a probable cause report, which will take several weeks to be completed and be made public.
On April 1, according to state police records and statements, King met a car that was transporting Petrino and Dorrell to Fayetteville from the motorcycle accident scene.
About the same time, King’s state police unit was called to investigate Petrino’s accident.
On April 2, Petrino asked King if he would be required to identify his passenger in the crash, according to a statement from the state police. King told Petrino by phone that if Petrino didn’t identify her, the accident report would say “unidentified white female.”
“I didn’t ask him the name and he didn’t ask me to keep her name off the report,” King wrote in his statement released April 9.
On April 3, Petrino said at a news conference that he was riding the motorcycle alone. Then on April 5, about the same time the accident report was released, Petrino admitted the relationship with Dorrell to UA Athletic Director Jeff Long.
King was required to provide a detailed account of his dealings with Petrino after the accident, though the state police said he was not subject to an internal investigation and did not violate agency policy or state law.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/26/2012