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| 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.
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."
