"A devastating error in judgment," is the excuse Tonique Hatton, a former
16-year veteran of the state Department of Human Services gave as she was sentenced
Wednesday to nine years in prison and became jointly responsible for
repaying more than $7.6 million in stolen federal funds that were
intended to feed hungry children.
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| TONIQUE HATTON |
Tonique Hatton, 39, of North Little Rock admitted in September that
while working in the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood
Education, she took bribes in 2012, 2013 and 2014 to allow two other
women to fraudulently obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars of U.S.
Department of Agriculture funds.
The USDA funded feeding programs that were administered by the Human
Services Department to provide snacks or meals for children in
low-income areas after school or during the summer. People who signed up
to be sponsors at feeding sites across the state, and who were approved
by the department, were later reimbursed by the federal government on
the basis of claims they submitted through the state.
Federal prosecutors said that in several cases, the submitted claims
were greatly exaggerated or outright false, allowing a handful of people
to receive huge "reimbursements" when, in truth, they had fed very few
or no children.
Hatton pleaded guilty Sept. 6 to conspiring to commit wire fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris told U.S. District Judge James Moody
Jr. then that Hatton's responsibilities at the Human Services
Department included processing applications from people who applied to
be sponsors, determining the would-be sponsors' eligibility and
approving their proposed feeding sites. 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, to approve the applications.
Hatton and another former DHS employee, Gladys King, were described
as the "gatekeepers" of the operation. One of the two women Hatton and
King admitted approving as sponsors, despite knowing that they intended
to commit fraud, is set to be tried in a two- or three-week jury trial
beginning March 27. She is Jacqueline Mills, 41, of Helena-West Helena,
who is accused of personally receiving more than $2.5 million through
the program.
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| GLADYS KING |
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| JACQEULINE MILLS |
The other woman who admitted paying bribes to Hatton and King so she
could fraudulently receive $3.6 million is Kattie Jordan, 51, of
Dermott, who is serving a five-year sentence.
Mills; Dortha Harper, 51, of England; and Anthony Waits, 38, who is
also from England and is King's ex-husband, face charges of wire fraud
and wire-fraud conspiracy at the March trial. It will be the first trial
stemming from nine separate indictments alleging feeding-program fraud
that have been handed up since Hatton, Mills and King were the first to
be indicted in December 2014.
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| ANTHONY WAITS |
Late Wednesday afternoon, several hours after Hatton was sentenced,
26-year-old Michael Lee of Little Rock pleaded guilty in another federal
courtroom to 20 counts of wire fraud, admitting he was one of the
sponsors who filed exaggerated claims in the same time period, receiving
$666,428.07 that was deposited directly into his bank account.
In Hatton's case, federal sentencing guidelines recommended a prison
term of between 108 months, or nine years, and 135 months, or a little
over 11 years.
Her ex-husband asked the judge to sentence her below the range for
the sake of their children -- an 18-year-old son who is in college, a
12-year-old girl and a 2-year-old. Hatton also spoke to the judge,
apologizing for her actions and saying she had embarrassed herself and
her family.
"I am a single parent and my children really depend on me," she said
through tears at a courtroom lectern, asking the judge not to "take me
away from them."
Her attorney, Stuart Vess of Little Rock, asked Moody to sentence
Hatton at the low end of the penalty range and to recommend that Hatton
participate in a drug treatment program that, if successfully completed,
could shave some time off her sentence. He cited a paragraph in her
pre-sentence report prepared by U.S. probation officers that she had
abused hydrocodone years earlier. Vess also noted that Hatton was "in no
position to be able to pay a fine."
Harris objected to allowing Hatton to avoid a prison sentence, noting
that while she "no doubt has done some good things in her life" and had
no previous criminal history, "the facts and circumstances of this case
warrant a guideline sentence."
Harris reminded the judge that the case involved "very large sums of
money" and hurt children that the funds were meant to benefit. She also
noted that Hatton, who is expected to testify as a government witness in
the March trial, violated a position of trust at the Human Services
Department to carry out her crime.
Moody imposed the lowest recommended sentence for Hatton while
approving the government's request to keep $17,681.49 that it seized
from her checking account. He also ordered her to be held jointly and
severally liable with other defendants who have been and have yet to be
convicted in the feeding-fraud cases for repaying $7,632,871.77 in
restitution to the USDA.
In the plea hearing later Wednesday before Chief U.S. District Judge
Brian Marshall, Lee admitted to each of the wire-fraud charges for which
he was indicted, without a plea agreement. Each count corresponded to a
direct deposit from the USDA into his bank account between Oct. 7,
2012, and June 8, 2014, with the amounts of the deposits ranging from
$17,861.51 to $68,068.
Harris said Lee falsely claimed to operate a feeding site in
Arkadelphia on behalf of an organization called Our Children of Tomorrow
I, as well as a feeding site at 5232 Baseline Road in Little Rock on
behalf of an organization called Our Children of Tomorrow II.
She said that while he submitted claims indicating he had fed from
115 to 450 children at a time at the Arkadelphia site, witnesses saw
only 25 to 30 children at a time there. At the Baseline Road site,
Harris said, Lee claimed to have fed from 76 to 350 kids at a time, but
"no children were ever seen" there.
Harris said Lee used most of the money he received through the scam
for personal use and cash withdrawals. She said he initially told
investigators that he was introduced to the scam by his mother-in-law
and never would have been involved in it if not for her. He told them he
paid the woman $3,000 to $5,000 cash from each payment he received.
But Harris said Lee later told investigators that he had misspoken in
his initial interview due to being nervous, and that his mother-in-law
wasn't involved.
The woman, who sat in the courtroom gallery Wednesday during the plea
hearing with her daughter, Lee's wife, hasn't been charged with a
crime.
