LITTLE ROCK — Three former employees of the Arkansas Department of Human Services have been charged by the Arkansas Insurance Department with producing counterfeit proof-of-insurance cards for motor vehicles.
Six others also have been charged in what officials said was a scheme using a department computer to produce or purchase the cards so vehicles could be registered with the Arkansas Department of Motor Vehicle.
The fraud division of the Insurance Department filed the charges in PulaskiCounty Circuit Court, and a judge issued warrants for the accused Friday. According to a press release from the Insurance Department, eight people had turned themselves in Friday.
Tashanna Davis faces five counts of insurance fraud and Lynette E. Finley is facing two counts.
Davis and Finley were fired as a result of the investigation, said Julie Munsell, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services.
Also charged was Stephanie McCuien, who left the department before the investigation began in July.
Also charged with one count of either purchasing, possessing or using counterfeit cards were Zantreece McFerguson, Tina L. Borders, Christopher D. Maxwell, Chara Backus, Porchia L. Davis and Deborah Lawrence.
Alice Jones, a spokesman for Arkansas Insurance Department, said she did not know how many of the cards were produced.
The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are possible, she said. Each count could net six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
According to affidavits filed with the Pulaski County Circuit Court, all but Maxwell, Backus and Borders confessed.
Finley said in an interview that she was “remorseful” and “disgusted” by her actions and wanted to move on with her professional career.
“It wasn’t a consistent thing I did; it was a bad judgment error,” she said. “It was just something I did to make some extra money, and I was wrong for it.”
Each card was sold for $50, the affidavits said.
Maxwell, accused of purchasing a fictitious card for his grandmother’s car, said that he didn’t know he was purchasing a phony card and that he is innocent.
Tashanna Davis’ attorney, Lott Rolfe, said he couldn’t comment about the case.
McCuien, Porchia Davis, Backus and Lawrence had no comment. Borders andMcFerguson could not be reached for comment.
Munsell said this was the first time she could remember an employee of the department being charged with a crime involving a department computer. She said there haven’t been any policy changes as a result of the investigation, but that the department would continue to monitor employees’ Internet usage.
She added that the Insurance Department brought the allegations to the human services department’s attention.
Business, Pages 31 on 09/25/2010