Cedarville's former recorder/treasurer has pleaded innocent to charges that she stole as much as $175,000 from the city since 2008.
Alicson Reding, 37, was charged Tuesday in Crawford County Circuit Court with seven counts of theft that accuse her of taking between $5,000 and $25,000 a year from Jan. 1, 2008, to this year from Cedarville coffers.
Reding was scheduled to be arraigned Friday in circuit court but, according to the prosecuting attorney's office, Fort Smith attorney Jered Medlock entered an innocent plea for her and waived the arraignment.
The charges were filed by special prosecutor John McClary. Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune has recused himself from the case because of an unidentified conflict of interest.
Reding, who resigned as recorder/treasurer in April, was arrested Friday on the seven theft counts but was released later in the day after posting a $10,000 bond, according to Crawford County jail records.
An affidavit for a search warrant signed by Arkansas State Police Senior Special Agent Robin Kuykendall and dated April 7 stated a schedule of payments that showed Reding, her husband, Brian, or a business associated with them had received $371,906.50 from Cedarville between Jan. 1, 2008, and Feb. 28, 2014.
According to the affidavit, neither Alicson nor Brian Reding receive a salary from the city, which has a population of 1,400.
The affidavit stated that the investigation began after a Legislative Joint Audit Committee review of Cedarville's financial records found irregularities.
The committee auditors only partially reviewed the records because Alicson Reding told them that she kept some of the records at her home, the affidavit stated. A review of the records auditors had showed that Alicson Reding, on at least one occasion, used $4,973.86 of Cedarville money to pay taxes on a business that she owned. The affidavit does not name the business.
Arkansas secretary of state records showed that Alicson and Brian Reding are officers in a Van Buren business called Pyle and Reding Inc. that was incorporated Sept. 23, 2011.
The records show that Brian Reding is the president of the company; Alicson Reding is the vice president; William Pyle is the controller; and Beverly Pyle, who is the Crawford County treasurer, is the secretary and treasurer.
The records show that Brian Reding, Alicson Reding, Beverly Pyle and William Pyle are the incorporators/organizers of the company.
The records do not describe what type of business Pyle and Reding Inc. is, only that it is a for-profit corporation and is in good standing.
Beverly Pyle, who served as a Republican state representative for District 83 from 2005-11, did not return a call to her Van Buren office Tuesday for comment.
On several occasions, according to the search warrant affidavit, it appeared that Alicson or Brian Reding, a business associated with them, or a purported school benefit program called Pirate Plunge received or diverted payments from Cedarville, claiming they were for work or products benefiting Cedarville.
The invoices or work orders for the money were missing, altered or never existed, the affidavit stated.
State Desk on 09/06/2014