CRITTENDEN COUNTY DHS/DCFS IGNORES CALLS FROM WEST MEMPHIS POLICE DEPARTMENT

TOP COP IN WEST MEMPHIS BLASTS DHS FOR FAILURES

Captain Joe Baker with the West Memphis Police Department ("WMPD") vented frustrations about the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services ("DHS/DCFS"), to the news media last week.

This was after the WMPD couldn’t get DHS/DCFS personnel to assist with a baby found in a Krystal restaurant parking lot on Wednesday, November 16th.

Baker, who oversees all enforcement operations for West Memphis police, said finding the baby Wednesday was just the latest of his department’s “chronic problems” with the Department of Human Services that span years.

“At ground level, it is a horribly run organization,” said Baker.

On Wednesday, officers were called to the Krystal at 1804 N. Missouri St. around 2:20 p.m. on a report of a baby being left in the parking lot. The restaurant’s manager and a customer brought the baby, who was in a carrier, back inside and waited for police, Baker said.

According to Rose Love, the manager, the couple initially left the baby in the restaurant and came back in to get it.  Once outside, the left the baby in the parking lot.

Video from the restaurant shows the baby carrier left on top of a table and the parents coming back to get it. 

   




Officers determined the two and a half month old baby boy in the carrier was unharmed but found a prescription pill with him in the carrier. The parents, who had realized they left their child behind, called the restaurant to see if the baby had been left there and arrived at the restaurant after police had arrived. Baker said both Savanna Loggains, 20, and Chris Poindexter, 19,were taken into custody and face child-endangerment and drug charges.

SAVANNA LOGGAINS & CHRIS POINDEXTER - MUG SHOTS

As the parents were arrested around 2:55 p.m., police began calling numbers on a list that the Department of Human Services had given them in September. Dispatchers tried two numbers that were unsuccessful, and Baker’s calls to the area director and local DHS office also went unanswered.

“At that point, we kind of ran out of options,” Baker said.

Police then managed to contact to baby’s grandmother, he said, and determined she could care for the child in lieu of his parents.

Amy Webb, a Department of Human Services spokesman, said the four employees on the list were each unavailable when West Memphis police called Wednesday. One of them was on leave, another was in Little Rock without cell-phone service and the last two were busy in an interview. 

DHS DIRECTOR CINDY GILLESPIE AND DHS MOUTHPIECE AMY WEBB

Webb refused to say how the people responsible would be held accountable.

Two and a half hours after the baby was found, Cyndi Rowlett, the area director, was able to speak with Police Chief Donald Oakes.
 

DONALD OAKES - WEST MEMPHIS CHIEF OF POLICE

 
“We’re working to address it so we don’t have this issue again,” Webb said. “The process just didn’t work in this situation.”

That process was instituted after DHS officials met with West Memphis police in September. Baker said he, Oakes, Rowlett and Division of Child and Family Services Director Mischa Martin were there to implement the agency’s phone-call system.
 

That process was instituted after DHS officials met with West Memphis police in September. Baker said he, Oakes, Rowlett and Division of Child and Family Services Director Mischa Martin were there to implement the agency’s phone-call system.

The meeting came after a Sept. 19. incident in which police found a 15-year-old boy who had been hit in the head with a pool cue by his mother, Baker said. The boy had a cut that needed stitches.

It took 17 calls — 22 minutes — to contact the Crittenden County’s Department of Human Services caseworker who didn’t want to drive to West Memphis to help take the boy to a hospital in Memphis, Baker said.

After 41 minutes, the paramedics decided to take the boy to Forrest City Medical Center in St. Francis County — out of the case worker’s jurisdiction.

It wasn’t the first time West Memphis officers were taken off the street to care for children. Baker said officers and dispatchers in recent years have been forced to babysit for hours, sometimes even buying diapers and food.

Police decided to keep the September issue out of the public eye, but after the processed failed Wednesday, Baker and Oakes publicized their displeasure with the Department of Human Services in an attempt to force action.
 

State Senator Keith Ingram had a stern message for employees of DHS, "either do your job or find something else to do," Ingram told reporters.

STATE SENATOR KEITH INGRAM (D) - WEST MEMPHIS

"There is no excuse for an employee of DHS to not respond immediately. This isn’t a single instance here. This is a pattern for a while,” Ingram added.

Ingram contacted DHS Director Cindy Gillespie to express his concerns about the DHS Crittenden County Office and said, "I’ve been assured by the DHS director Cindy Gillespie that this will be taken care of and will be done."

In a hearing held on Friday, November 18th, Poindexter's grandmother told the judge that he was grieving the death of his brother when the incident happened and was very remorseful.

 ************

Cyndi Rowlett, the DHS/Division of Children &Family Services Area Manager was sued by a former Crittenden County DHS/DCFS worker who was fired after the worker expressed concerns that her supervisor, Doreen Brown did not take the appropriate action to take a child into DHS custody and the child died a short while later.  More on that story in a future post.

AUDITORS QUESTION LEGALITY OF TWO MONTH CONTRACT TO SNAG CINDY GILLESPIE FOR DHS DIRECTOR

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON TRIES DEFENDS HIS ACTIONS REGARDING DHS HEAD CINDY GILLESPIE 

Legislative auditors Thursday questioned whether the state Department of Human Services circumvented the Arkansas Constitution and state law with its two-month contract with Cindy Gillespie before she formally assumed her current position as executive director at a $280,000-a-year salary.

But the department's chief legal counsel, David Sterling, disagreed with the auditors' findings and said the department's contract with Gillespie didn't violate the constitution or state law.

 

STERLING RAN AGAINST LESLIE RUTLEDGE FOR REPUBLICAN AG NOMINATION AND WAS TROUNCED

The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee co-chairman, Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, told fellow lawmakers, "We decided that we would just contact the governor's office [and] just let them know that there may be an issue with the way this was being done, and we thought this was the best way to handle it" before the department executed the contract with Gillespie.

 

STATE SENATOR JIMMY HICKEY (R) GAVE GOV. HUTCHINSON A HEADS UP ON FINDINGS

In a statement issued after the meeting, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said, "We had the contract reviewed by our legal team, and we were comfortable with proceeding with that contract despite reservations by Legislative Audit.

"At the end of the day, though, the Legislature had the authority to approve or disapprove the executive director position at DHS, and they approved it," the governor said in a written statement issued after the legislative committee reviewed the department's audit.

Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, said the Legislature could enact legislation in the future "where we could kind of close the loophole on this one, and take what we learn and move forward."

 

REPRESENTATIVE KIM HAMMER (R) SAYS THIS WAS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Gillespie is a former health care adviser to the former Republican governor and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney. In February, Hutchinson announced Gillespie's hiring as executive director of the Department of Human Services, starting March 1, and her starting salary at $280,000 a year. But until April 30, she had a professional consulting services contract until the law on the director's salary could be changed to allow her salary.

Gillespie replaced longtime department director Jon Selig as the chief of the state's largest agency, which has a budget exceeding $8 billion a year and thousands of employees. Selig was paid $161,038 a year when he departed the agency.

Deputy Legislative Auditor Jon Moore said, "We question whether this contract circumvented the requirements" in the Arkansas Constitution's Article 16, Section 4, and Arkansas Code Annotated 19-11-1004 (d).

JON MOORE

Article 16, Section 4, of the constitution provides that the General Assembly shall fix the salaries and fees of all officers of the state and no greater salary or fee than that fixed by law shall be paid any officer, employee or other person, Moore said.

Arkansas Code Annotated 19-11-1004 (d) states that no director or any other department head of any state agency shall receive additional compensation from professional or consultant services contracts, Moore said. Act 928 of 2015 established maximum-authorized salary for the Department of Human Service's executive director at $161,038 for fiscal year 2016, Moore said.

On Feb. 12, the department entered into a sole-source professional consulting services contract with Gillespie, starting March 1 and ending April 30, for a total of $49,000 or 30 percent of the originally authorized salary for the director's job, Moore said.

"The duties described in this contract are essentially the same as the duties associated with the legislatively established position of DHS Executive Director," Moore said. "The contract allowed the new DHS executive director to begin working before a new appropriation was approved by the General Assembly and to be compensated at a higher rate than that allowed by the current appropriation."

Act 2 of this year's fiscal session appropriated $280,000 for the maximum-authorized salary for the department's executive director, effective April 26, for the rest of fiscal year 2016, and Gillespie formally assumed the position of executive director on April 27, Moore said.

But Sterling said that Arkansas Legislative Audit's finding "is incorrect when it asserts that the duties assumed by Ms. Gillespie under the contract were 'essentially the same' as those of DHS director.

"As the executive head of DHS, the director is authorized by law and expected to promulgate standards and rules; to hire, fire and discipline staff; to conduct performance evaluations; to decide employee grievances; to execute contracts and agreements on behalf of DHS; to initiate and complete procurements; to allocate or transfer state and federal funds; and to authorize expenditures, among many other duties," Sterling said.

During the two-month period that Gillespie was under contract with the department, "she did none of these things, nor did the contract authorize her to do any of those things," he said.

Gillespie's responsibilities under the contract were limited to consulting services in organizational management for human services programs, and management consulting "is not equivalent to exercising the state's authority as an executive head of a state agency," Sterling said. During Gillespie's stint as a consultant, any or all exercises of state authority were undertaken by the department's deputy directors in direct coordination with the governor's office, he said.

Gillespie became the department's executive director -- a new position and new title created by Act 2 of the fiscal session -- on April 27, and she received no more compensation under contract for services provided after she was sworn in, so there has been no violation of Arkansas Code Annotated 19-11-1004 (d), Sterling said.

The limitations of Article 16, Section 4 of the Arkansas Constitution apply to state officers and employees, and she wasn't an officer or an employee when she was a consultant, so there has been no violation of the Arkansas Constitution, Sterling said.

But Frank Arey, attorney for Arkansas Legislative Audit, told lawmakers that there were a number of items and activities that occurred during this time period that "makes us feel comfortable with this assertion that she was in fact acting as director.

FRANK AREY, LEGISLATIVE AUDIT ATTORNEY & FORMER ARK. APPEALS COURT JUDGE

"DHS supplied us with a stack of documents that they say during this time were executed by other folks and that is in fact true..., but to our way of looking at this that was not inconsistent with her also serving as director at the same time," Arey said. "We feel like the effect of this personal services contract that Ms. Gillespie entered into was to pay her considerably more than this body had appropriated for this position."

Sen. Eddie Cheatham, D-Crossett, said Gillespie "is doing an excellent job.

SENATOR EDDIE CHEATHAM SAID HE DOESN'T WANT TO ROCK THE BOAT

"We don't want to start over trying to rehire her. She might change her mind," Cheatham said.

Gillespie is paid almost $120,000 a year more than the former DHS director, John Selig.

FORMER DHS EMPLOYEE GOES TO PRISON FOR STEALING PATIENT ID'S AND FILING FRAUDLENT INCOME TAX RETURNS

 

Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced today that United States District Judge Kristine G. Baker sentenced Sir John Ashley Holliday, 28, of Dallas, Texas, to two years in federal prison for aggravated identity theft and theft of government funds, and ordered him to pay $13,191 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Holliday was formerly employed as an orderly at the Arkansas State Hospital, a Little Rock psychiatric facility operated by the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

At his change of plea hearing before Judge Baker on May 19, 2016, Holliday admitted that he stole patient names and social security numbers that he obtained during his employment at the State Hospital.

Holliday used the stolen information to file fraudulent federal income tax returns in the patients’ names which claimed refunds on wages never actually earned.

Holliday then obtained refunds from the fraudulent returns in the form of debit cards totaling $13,191, which he later spent as his own.

Holliday pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and theft of government funds.


The charge of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year term in prison, to be served consecutively to any other related sentence.


Holliday was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release. 

Holliday's attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Latrece Gray, gave U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker several letters written in support of Holliday, including one from his current employer, who wasn't identified. She told the judge Holliday has changed since he committed the crimes in 2011 and wants a chance to prove he now knows the difference between right and wrong.

"I'm sorry for my mishap for everybody that I became a problem to," Holliday said from a courtroom lectern.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Morgan didn't object to Gray's request for the minimum sentence, but said that despite the "relatively small" amount of money involved, the crime is a "serious offense."

He said the identity theft was "particularly egregious, especially because the victims were patients of a psychiatric ward."




The patient demographic of the Arkansas State Hospital is not reflective of wealthy or even employed individuals. Most are indigent, on government assistance, or prisoners awaiting a court ordered psychiatric observation.

Baker sentenced Holliday to one day in prison for theft of government funds and two years for the identity theft. She also ordered him to make full restitution to the IRS and to serve three years on supervised release after his prison term.

The crime was investigated by the FBI, the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Secret Service.

In 2011, the Arkansas Disability Rights Center of Arkansas released a scathing
report that detailed a long history of systematic failures at the DHS operated facility.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Continuing Systemic Failures at the Arkansas State Hospital 

 

DHS ASSISTANT DIRECTOR LACKS KNOWLEDGE OF NORMAL BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN

 

ARELENE ROSE

Arlene Rose, assistant director for operations and program development with the state Division of Childcare and Early Childhood Education with the Arkansas Department of Human Services appears to be out in the cold when it comes to recognizing normal childhood behavior.

In comments she made to  a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in regard to an increasing number of children being expelled from daycare centers for biting behavior, she launched into a rant about a program DHS recently launched, stealing funding from other existing programs, that is supposed to reduce expulsions and suspensions in early-learning settings.

Rose stated, "It is a huge project, but I tell you, the reception overall has been very positive," Rose said. "We know that there has been a need. Even prior to launch, I would hear providers talk about challenges that they've experienced with children. You know, they would be at their wits' end asking, 'What do we do?'"

Rose grinned widely as she leaned forward and tapped her finger on a glossy picture of a pyramid.

"It excites me," she said. "I just think, 'What can we do for those babies that's really going to help them be successful?' This is near and dear to my heart, it really is. I just believe that every child can be saved."

A problem that DHS and Rose cannot get around in determining a true need for this wasteful project is that there are no records or statistics that document exactly how many toddlers have been expelled or suspended from Arkansas daycare centers. 

That's right, there are no Arkansas-specific statistics on how many children up to 5 years old have been suspended or expelled.

"The short answer is that we don't have data because we didn't previously track this, but we have now started to do so and should have some data at some point in the near future," said Amy Webb, a spokesman for the Human Services Department.

AMY WEBB

Look at Amy try and put a spin on the fact the DHS launched a program, hired additional staff, took funds from other programs before it is even documented that there is a problem with daycare expulsions in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette story began with the experience one parent of two children had to deal with when the daycare center they attended expelled or told the mother her children were not welcome at the center after one of the children bit another child.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette did not attempt to speak with the daycare center and determine if there were other issues that led to their refusal to care for the children.

Rose's comment, "I just believe that every child can be saved", implies that biting behavior is abnormal and is a gateway behavior to a doomed life.

Where does DHS get all these buffoons from?

Biting is a normal toddler behavior when the are dealing with anger or stress.  Early Childhood Development 101.  Maybe Rose missed that day or slept through that class.

Arkansas has the lowest requirements of any state as far as the education that is required to serve as a child care provider according to Nicola Edge, a UAMS associate professor in family and preventive medicine.

"Biting is really normal. It's going to happen in day care centers," Edge said. "The specialists can say, 'Here's a little pamphlet that's going to tell you what to do when children bite. Here's a pamphlet you can talk through with parents and that will tell the parents how to respond. Check back with me in two weeks, and let's see if that met your needs.'"

The real problem here is that DHS did not change the minimum requirement for daycare teachers when the overhauled it minimum licensing requirements for child-care centers in 2014.  They are using standards developed in 1945.

Uneducated daycare staff and their inability to deal with normal toddler behavior is a problem that DHS could have corrected in 2014 by strengthening requirements for daycare personnel.

DHS would rather hold bi-weekly meetings, spend money on an undocumented, made up problem rather than change 71 year old standards.

 

 

FORMER DHS WORKER ADMITS THAT SHE ACCEPTED BRIBES TO ILLEGALLY DISPERSE $6 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS

A former state employee admitted Tuesday that she took bribes for nearly three years to permit two other women to obtain $6 million in federal funds by falsely claiming they fed underprivileged children in after-school and summer nutrition programs.

TONIQUE HATTON

Tonique Hatton, 39, of North Little Rock, flanked by defense attorneys Stuart Vess and Christian Alexander, pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom in Little Rock to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and receipt of a bribe.

Both charges centered on Hatton's job at the state Department of Human Services, which served as the administrator for the feeding programs, which were funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris said Hatton's responsibilities included processing applications from people who applied to be sponsors to feed low-income children and later be reimbursed through the federal government. Her duties included determining the sponsors' eligibility and approving their proposed feeding sites.

From January 2012 through August 2014, Hatton and another state worker, Gladys Elise Waits, also known as Gladys Elise King, approved paperwork allowing Jacqueline Mills of Helena-West Helena and Kattie Jordan of Dermott to be sponsors and submit claims, despite knowing that the women planned to commit fraud, Harris said. She said Hatton and Waits also helped Mills and Jordan avoid detection.

 

GLADYS ELISE WAITS

JACQUELINE D. MILLS

Mills operated approved feeding sites in cities including Helena-West Helena and Marianna, through which she received more than $2.5 million in federal funds. Jordan operated approved sites in cities including Dermott, Dumas, Eudora and Lake Village, through which she received more than $3.5 million in federal funds. Both Mills and Jordan claimed they fed far more children than they actually did, Harris said.

Waits pleaded guilty March 30 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and receipt of a bribe, and is awaiting sentencing. If she and Hatton hadn't pleaded guilty, both would be joining three other people in a jury trial that is to begin Oct. 17 in the Little Rock courtroom of U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr.

In return for Hatton's guilty pleas, for which she will be sentenced in about 90 days, Moody granted Harris' request to dismiss 26 individual counts of bribery against Hatton.

In the courtroom, Harris said Hatton accepted $30,770 in bribe checks made out to her, and another $62,700 in bribe checks made out to a relative of hers.

Although an indictment lists 27 checks that it says Hatton received from Mills and Jordan during the nearly three-year period, Hatton pleaded guilty to a single bribery charge, admitting that she accepted a $16,000 check from Mills on May 25, 2013.

Still, as part of the plea agreement, Hatton agreed that "every bit" of the allegations against her in the indictment were true.

The indictment listed checks to Hatton that ranged from $5,000 to $16,000. The memo lines of the checks were occasionally left blank, but in most cases indicated the checks were used to pay for furniture, supplies, food, mileage, setup fees, travel and building materials.

Harris didn't say whether the checks covered some legitimate expenses as well as the fraudulent expenses. However, she told Moody that the amount of restitution that will be due by each of the defendants hasn't yet been agreed upon. If the restitution can't be worked out before sentencing, Harris said, the parties will let the court decide the amounts each defendant owes.

Those still awaiting trial in the case are Mills; Dortha Harper, also known as Dorothy Harper, of England; and Waits' estranged husband, Anthony Leon Waits, also of England.

 

ANTHONY LEON WAITS

The conspiracy charge against Hatton is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, while the bribery charge is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison. Each charge also carries a potential fine of up to $250,000.

While federal sentencing guidelines will help determine a recommended penalty range within the statutory requirements, Harris said Hatton's plea agreement includes enhancements for abusing a position of trust, accepting more than one bribe and for the amount of loss involved in the scheme.

She said Hatton has agreed to forfeit to the government $17,681 that she has in a bank account, to be put toward her restitution.

Hatton wasn't asked in the courtroom to explain her guilt in her own words, and she declined to comment after the hearing when asked what motivated her to commit the crimes.

We knew what motivated her...greed and lack of internal controls by the Arkansas Department of Human Services. 

BACK IN 2014 DHS DIRECTOR JOHN SELIG ADMITTED LACK OF CONTROLS PERMITTED "BAD ACTORS" TO PLUNDER THE PROGRAM DHS ADMINISTERED.

The federal government contracted with DHS to process applications from would-be sponsors, which included reviewing their budgets and the sites where they intended to provide food, to ensure they were eligible to participate. DHS then administered the federal funds to the pre-approved sponsors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris pointed out that DHS bore some responsibility by allowing the fraud to occur. "Because their applications had been approved for a specified number of sites and a specified number of children who could be fed at the sites, inflated claims were approved and paid by DHS without further scrutiny," Harris said.