Posted on 02/27/2020 10:31:42 AM PST by ransomnote
A former executive director of South Arkansas Youth Services (SAYS), an Arkansas-based nonprofit, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiring to unlawfully divert over $380,000 from the charity to an Arkansas state senator and the lobbying firm of a convicted lobbyist.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey sentenced Jerry Walsh, 72, of Magnolia, Arkansas, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to misapply the nonprofit’s funds without authority from the board of directors. Judge Hickey also ordered Walsh to pay $515,631.56 in restitution.
As part of his plea, Walsh admitted that beginning in 2013, while serving as executive director for SAYS, he agreed to divert SAYS funds to convicted lobbyist Milton “Rusty” Cranford and an unnamed Arkansas state senator in exchange for the state senator’s influence in protecting the nonprofit’s state contracts with the Arkansas Department Health Services (DHS) and DHS’ Division of Youth Services (DYS). As part of that agreement, Walsh was to provide a monthly “legal retainer” to the Arkansas state senator without the expectation that the senator ever provide any legal work. Instead, the purpose of the payments was to obtain the senator’s assistance in preserving the contracts by influencing DHS and DYS officials. According to the plea, Cranford negotiated the amount paid to the senator, which amounted to over $120,000.
Additionally, as part of the conspiracy, Walsh admitted to paying Cranford’s lobbying firms above-market prices and employed a relative of Cranford who had a “no-show” job with SAYS. In total, Walsh illegally diverted approximately $262,000 in charity funds to Cranford’s lobbying firm and relative.
The FBI investigated this case along with the assistance of the Magnolia Police Department and the 13th Judicial District of Arkansas Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Senior Litigation Counsel Marco A. Palmieri of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Wulff of the Western District of Arkansas are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Deputy Prosecutor Ryan Phillips with the 13th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. This is a combined investigation with the Public Integrity Section, the Eastern District of Arkansas, the Western District of Arkansas and the Western District of Missouri.
The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.
An “unnamed” senator???
A democRAT
Probably WHY he’s un-named
I don’t care what party. Name them. They are treated like a protected class of citizen who don’t have to abide by laws.
“If the political party of an offender is not listed in the first paragraph odds are that offender is a Democrat”
Crim’s razor
“30 months in prison”
That is 19 month less than Stone.
Of course this guy will bet out in maybe a year with good behavior.
Correction:
That is 10 (TEN) month less than Stone.
The first law of journalism... thou shall not report any story that paints a democRAT in a bad light.
It certainly doesn’t look like a 72-year-old man mentioned in the story.
You are right.
I did an image search with his name. It even said under the pic his job title and that he took 300k from charity.
You are right. Not only that but that’s a women!
It’s another case where she GoFund me to con people out of 300k.
Rusty -
The government would later allege that Cranford planned to hire an old family friend to murder a witness who was cooperating in a federal corruption investigation against him.
“This mother****** right here,” Cranford had told the family friend, a felon who was acting as a confidential informant for the FBI and recording the conversations. “He’s in Philadelphia. He’s in South Jersey.” Cranford then whispered: “He needs to go away. He needs to be gone.” According to the informant, Cranford then made a gun-shooting gesture with his hand.
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You can’t make this stuff up!
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