CONWAY — Former University of Central Arkansas President Allen Meadors and his ex-chief of staff, Jack Gillean, pleaded innocent Monday to unrelated offenses that the prosecution says took place while they worked at UCA.
Accompanied by his two sisters, Gillean, 56, attended the arraignment on four felony charges and one misdemeanor count before Circuit Judge Charles E. Clawson Jr.
Meadors, who now lives in North Carolina, did not appear and allowed attorney Timothy Dudley to enter the plea on his behalf. Meadors, 65, is charged with a misdemeanor, solicitation of tampering with a public document.
Gillean, who said nothing audible in court, is charged with three felony counts of commercial burglary, one felony count of fraudulent insurance acts and one misdemeanor count of issuing a false statement.
Later, offering an “assessment of this case” outside the Faulkner County Courthouse, Sam Perroni, one of Gillean’s three lawyers, said: “It’s easy to prepare an affidavit filled with lies, rumors and innuendoes and call it evidence. But when it comes to going to court and proving it beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, it’s another matter.
“In my personal opinion, it’s going to be amusing to watch the prosecution try to prove its case,” Perroni added, then left without taking further questions.
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland responded, “Mr. Perroni is an advocate for his client and is certainly entitled to his opinion.
“In any criminal prosecution,” Hiland said, “defense counsel has an opportunity to first receive and then review the discovery [evidence] provided by the state, and at that point they will be in a position to make an informed decision as to the relative strength or weakness of the case.”
Gillean, who is also represented by Nicki Nicolo and Dudley, stood to the side of the courtroom to hear the brief proceedings for Meadors.
Dudley, who spoke for Gillean during the arraignment, told reporters that he does not see a conflict in his representation of both Gillean and Meadors.
Asked if it would be an issue if Gillean or Meadors was called to testify in the other man’s case, Dudley said, “Sure it would be an issue.” But Dudley said that scenario wasn’t going to happen.
Dudley declined to answer a question about who retained him to represent Gillean.
Gillean was freed Oct. 10 after paying 10 percent of $17,825 bail shortly after he surrendered at the Faulkner County jail. In court Monday, none of the attorneys could recall the exact bail amount. Nicolo said she thought it was about $17,500, so Clawson set it at that sum.
Clawson set separate pretrial hearings for Gillean and Meadors on Jan. 14 and said trial dates probably would be set then.
Gillean resigned June 15 after being asked about his grand-master key. Authorities said it had been used days earlier in an on-campus prescription drug theft by a UCA student who had that key and another of Gillean’s keys.
Authorities contend Gillean, a former deputy attorney general, gave those two keys and an identification card that doubles as a key card to the student to use in burglaries to steal tests. The test thefts took place between Feb. 13, 2011, and April 23, 2011, according to an affidavit accompanying the charges.
Gillean accompanied that student, former Marine Cameron Stark, on one burglary, the affidavit alleges.
The prosecution has given Stark, 24, limited immunity, and Gillean is not charged in the drug theft. Stark no longer attends UCA.
University spokesman Jeff Pitchford said in an e-mail Monday that Gillean turned the identification card in to the UCA Police Department when he was placed on administrative leave June 13, four days after the drug theft. UCA had not previously disclosed that Gillean was ever on administrative leave.
Meadors was charged in late August as the result of food vendor Aramark’s mishandled $700,000 offer to renovate the UCA-owned president’s house. Meadors resigned in September 2011, days after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the Aramark offer was contingent upon UCA extending its contract with the food vendor for seven years.
Meadors and Scott Roussel, then chairman of UCA’s board of trustees, had described the offer to other trustees as a donation and had not disclosed the condition until after the Democrat-Gazette learned about it. Both said they had known about the condition but didn’t mention it because of an honest oversight.
Meadors is accused of trying to persuade Diane Newton, UCA vice president for finance and administration, to destroy her copy of an Aug. 12, 2011, Aramark letter stating that condition.
Roussel, who later resigned from the board, is not charged with a crime.
UCA’s board ended up declining the $700,000 offer.
Commercial burglary is punishable by three to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The fraud charge - which stems from a wreck authorities say Stark had on Gillean’s motorcycle - is punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The misdemeanor charge against Meadors is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/20/2012