WASHINGTON — Former Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Jason Willett faces second-degree theft and unlawful entry charges after he allegedly failed to pay a $71.50 bar tab at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill during a 2010 lobbying trip.
He denies wrongdoing and has filed a lawsuit against Hyatt Corporation and two other Hyatt-related firms, accusing them of false imprisonment, slander, negligence, breach of contract and battery.
Willett, 40, was arrested at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 22, 2010, after eating and having drinks at the Article One Lounge, an upscale bar in the hotel’s atrium. He was handcuffed, taken to the District of Columbia jail, fingerprinted, jailed and released later that morning after receiving a citation to appear and promising to appear in court for an Oct. 5 arraignment.
But Willett skipped the court date, and Superior Court of the District of Columbia Judge Karen Howze issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
Nearly a year later, on Sept. 21, 2011, Willett voluntarily appeared in District of Columbia Superior Court and pleaded innocent.
Willett’s initial status hearing has been set for Oct. 27. The self-described lobbyist and former Jonesboro mayoral candidate has been ordered to stay away from the Hyatt Hotel, to phone the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency on a weekly basis and to “refrain from committing any criminal offense.”
Willett, who filed his lawsuit on Sept. 26, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
In his suit, Willett says he was a registered guest at the Hyatt Regency who attempted to charge his meal to his hotel account. But hotel officials, erroneously concluding that Willett didn’t have a room, demanded that he settle up — and summoned hotel security and law enforcement officials when he failed to produce the money, the suit says.
When police arrived, Willett told them “I have done nothing wrong,” the Sept. 22, 2010, police report states. But Willett refused to pay his bar tab or leave the hotel, saying, “Just lock me up. Just take me to jail.”
And that’s what they did.
Willett’s D.C.-area attorney, Andrew V. Jezic, blames the hotel for the arrest.
Hyatt “crossed a line of extreme, outrageous behavior and something has to be done,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Because of the arrest, Willett “has suffered economic damages, loss of income, and will continue to suffer loss of income in the future,” the suit states. Willett has also suffered “severe mental anguish, loss of professional and personal reputation, and personal public humiliation,” it says.
In particular, Willett had to cancel “multiple meetings with his client and members of the United States House of Representatives” because of the arrests, it adds.
Two Hyatt officials admitted that a mistake had been made soon after Willett’s release, Jezic says in court filings.
“At this point, we are not sure whether they have asked for charges to be dropped, but we expect that they will,” he told the Democrat-Gazette.
Jezic said his client was not intoxicated at the time of his arrest.
An assistant front office manager at the hotel declined to comment on the allegations late Tuesday afternoon. No other Hyatt officials could be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
Asked whether guests were allowed to bill restaurant purchases to their hotel room, an Article One waitress said: “Of course.”
It’s unclear why Willett skipped the Oct. 5, 2010, arraignment.
“I can’t comment on that,” Jezic said.
According to an Oct. 5, 2010, memo from D.C. Pretrial Services Officer Irene Wyche, Willett had called her “trying to find out information concerning his case so he could have his arraignment postponed due to lack of funds to buy an airplane ticket to Washington, D.C.”
But Willett’s financial straits didn’t prevent him from making campaign contributions.
The day of his arrest, he gave $1,000 to 1st District congressional candidate Chad Causey’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. Eight days after his bench warrant was issued, he contributed an additional $1,400 to Causey’s coffers.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/19/2011