DHS DEPUTY DIRECTOR CHARGED WITH CONSPIRARCY AND BRIBERY PLEDS GUILTY - RECEIVES 30 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON

FORMER DHS DEPUTY DIRECTOR STEPHEN B. JONES

A former deputy director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services (ADHS), a multi-billion dollar state agency, pleaded guilty for providing official assistance in exchange for bribes from the owner of two mental health companies.
 
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and First Assistant United States Attorney Patrick C. Harris of the Eastern District of Arkansas made the announcement.
 
Steven B. Jones, 49, of Marion, Arkansas, pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with conspiracy and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. 

 
According to his plea agreement, Jones served as deputy director of ADHS from approximately April 2007 until July 2013. While serving in that capacity, Jones solicited and accepted multiple cash payments and other things of value from the owner of two businesses that provided inpatient and outpatient mental health services to juveniles. This individual provided the cash payments and other things of value to Jones through the use of two intermediaries, a local pastor and a former county probation officer and city councilman.
 
As part of his plea, Jones admitted that in return for the bribes, he provided official assistance, including providing internal ADHS information about the individual’s businesses. Jones further admitted that he and other members of the conspiracy concealed their dealings by, among other things, holding meetings at restaurants in Memphis, Tennessee, or rural Arkansas, where they would not be easily recognized; funneling the cash payments through the pastor’s church; providing the bribe payments in cash so that the transactions would not be easily traceable; and speaking in code during telephone conversations.
 
Judge Billy Roy Wilson sentenced Jones to 30 months in federal prison and one year of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges. Phillip Carter, a former West Memphis councilman and juvenile probation officer, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiring to bribe a public official — the official being Jones.

Both sentences were on the lower end of the ranges established by federal sentencing guidelines. Carter and Jones have cooperated with prosecutors' ongoing investigation into another party in this conspiracy: Ted Suhl, the owner of two mental health companies. Suhl allegedly paid Carter to bribe Jones in return for inside information about DHS, which regulated his operations. In the narrative laid out in the government's indictment of Suhl in December, Carter acted as a middleman between the health care provider and the DHS official. Ted Suhl's jury trial is scheduled for July.

Jones was also ordered to pay a $6,000 fine. He could have received a much harsher financial penalty. Carter is to report to a federal correctional facility by April 4, Jones by April 18.

Jones himself apologized to the court for his "lapse in judgment," saying "I should have taken the high road ... I didn't." Nonetheless, he asked Judge Wilson to assign him community service, rather than prison time.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Jegley argued that Jones' record of community involvement and public service also made his actions particularly reprehensible.

"He violated both the position of trust at the Department of Human Services, and the trust among the public at large. ... He's violated his position of trust as a role model to the public." She also pointed out that Jones role in the conspiracy played out over the course of several years, with multiple payments. "This was not a situation where Mr. Jones had poor judgment ... one time. He violated the law at least ten times and perhaps as many as 20."

"For those reasons, he does need to be incarcerated," Jegley said.

Judge Wilson agreed with Jegley. "No doubt Mr. Jones is a man of tremendous energy and tremendous talent," he said, but because Jones violated the public's trust, he must go to prison. Prosecutors recommended the lowest possible sentence for Jones, presumably as part of his negotiated plea, and so Wilson assigned him to 30 months in federal prison. "I have seriously considered giving him more [time] in light of the public trust," the judge added, "but I think this is sufficient."

DHS WORKER FIRED AFTER ARREST FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT OF 17 YEAR OLD FEMALE IN STATE CUSTODY - SUBSEQUENTLY FOUND GUILTY OF 2 COUNTS OF FELONY SEXUAL ASSUALT

DHS FIRED HORN, WHO MANAGED THE DHS/DCFS OFFICE IN POLK COUNTY, AFTER BEING ARRESTED

On November 19, 2010 the Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested DHS Children and Family Services County Supervisor Dustin Horn and charged him with rape and two counts of felony sexual assault. One victim was a 17 year old female who was in the custody of the state in foster care.

The rape charge was dismissed, but Horn was convicted of two counts of Felony Sexual Assault and instead of serving time in prison, he was only sentenced to 240 months probation.

The Polk County Prosecuting Attorney at the time, Tim Williamson, stated that Horn had been investigated for similar investigation in the past but they didn't have enough evidence to charge him. 

A check of the Arkansas Crime Information Center sexual offender database does not show Horn listed as they only list level 3 and 4 offenders.  According to confidential sources, Horn is classified as a level 2 offender and under current laws is not listed on the ACIC website.  However, local authorities can make notifications about Horn to nearby residents.

When a DHS/DCFS employee sexually assaults a child in their care, that individual should receive the maximum punishment available and probation hardly seems fitting.

This was a newspaper story about the matter:

A report released Tuesday detailing the investigation into the 2009 rape and sex-abuse allegations against a Department of Human Services employee says he was the supervisor of one of the accusers and the foster-care caseworker of the other. 

Neither the female worker nor the 17-year-old foster child immediately stepped forward with the allegations against 41-year-old Dustin Horn. 

The adult told state police investigators earlier this month that she didn’t report the rape sooner because she was “scared of losing her job” and scared that Horn would take away the abuse/neglect cases she was working. 

The foster child told investigators that on the day she was reportedly forced to have sex with Horn, she tried to fend off his advances. 

“[She] said that he then told her that if she didn’t have sex with him, he was going to send her off to the middle of nowhere to where she wouldn’t have contact with her family, and even if she ran away, there would be nowhere to run,” Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Supervisor Teri Ward said in describing the interview with the girl. 

Horn, of Mena, had worked as the supervisor in the Human Services’ Children and Family Services Division office in Polk County since August 2005. 

Julie Munsell, a spokesman for the agency, said Tuesday that Horn was placed on administrative leave about two weeks ago when officials at her office first learned of the allegations against him.
Munsell said she could not answer questions about either case but that, in general, “Anytime, every time we get an allegation against a staff person we take it very seriously, and we investigate it very thoroughly.” 

Munsell said the agency is encouraging employees or anyone else with information in the case to step forward. 

Authorities arrested Horn on Friday, and Human Services Department officials fired him Monday.
He remained in the Polk County jail Tuesday charged with one count of rape and one count of sexual abuse in the first degree. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond. 

According to an affidavit for his arrest, Horn told investigators that he had consensual sex with the 17-year old girl even though he was in a position of authority over her and knew it was wrong to have sex with her. 

Horn also admitted to having sex with the adult female but alleged that it was consensual, according to the affidavit. 

Prosecuting Attorney Tim Williamson on Monday released information about the charges - including one that involved a foster child - but little else. 

The court records released Tuesday say that in the months before the purported rape, Horn repeatedly hugged and groped the employee at the office in Mena. 

“Dustin would come into her office and shut the door and walk past her desk and close the blinds and sit on the corner of her desk and insist that she give him a hug,” investigator Vicki Garmon wrote in a report supporting Horn’s arrest. 

When the woman resisted, she told Garmon that Horn reminded her that he was her boss and he would be the person writing her job performance evaluations. According to the report, he also told the woman that none of the other women in the office liked her. 

She said Horn “kept her isolated” from her co-workers. 

The woman told Garmon that she would relent and hug him, and during the hug, Horn would grab her breasts or bottom. Then in April or May of 2009, the woman told Garmon that Horn called her into a vacant office to help him look for a file. 

“When she entered the office Dustin shut the door behind her and locked the deadbolt,” the report reads. 

He pushed the woman against the wall and began undressing both of them, the report says. The more the woman protested, the more aggressive Horn became, according to the report.

During the rape, the woman told Garmon that she was able to push Horn down into a chair and get away. He then walked into her office, according to the report, and said, “I hope I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable.” 

The woman told Garmon that she was too upset to respond. 

Later, Horn moved into that vacant office where the attack reportedly happened, she said. He told the woman that he did so because he wanted to remember what had happened there, according to the report. 

Six or seven months later, Horn forced himself on the 17-year-old foster child, according to court records. 

The teenager told investigators that she was home alone recovering after having her wisdom teeth removed when Horn, whom the report described as her foster care caseworker, stopped in to check on her and take her food. 

While Horn was there, she went back to her bedroom to let the dogs out to go to the bathroom, according to records detailing her interview with police. Horn followed her to the bedroom and wouldn’t let her out of the room, according to reports. 

She told investigators that he pushed her onto the bed and held her down while partially undressing both of them. The girl said she tried to fight off Horn and that she told him to send her away because she didn’t want to have sex with him. 

After raping her, the girl said, Horn just left and she didn’t tell anyone what happened for months.
Investigators interviewed other people about what happened to the girl, according to court records. One, apparently another teenager, told police that the 17-year-old confided that she had sex with Horn once, and in exchange, Horn let the girl smoke. 

The foster girl’s former boss told police that the girl often complained that her caseworker made her uncomfortable because he bought her gifts, texted her and would show up when she was sick at home alone. 

The girl’s boss said she once agreed to take the girl to her house so that she wouldn’t be home alone. Within five minutes of the boss picking up the girl, the caseworker sent the girl a text message, court records show. It read, “I should have known you weren’t really sick, I should have expected this sh**.”  


Horn is still living in Western Arkansas and his LinkedIn profile omits his DHS employment.