Judge assigned to forgery case

Audit says Jefferson County clerk improperly gave bonuses

PINE BLUFF -- A special judge has been assigned to hear the case against Jefferson County Clerk Patricia Royal Johnson.

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Johnson, 67, of Pine Bluff was arrested March 25 and released without bond on 10 counts of forgery, one count of abuse of public trust and four counts of theft of property. She is serving her third term as county clerk.

The Arkansas Supreme Court appointed retired Circuit Judge John Langston on Tuesday to oversee the proceedings after judges in Jefferson County were granted recusal by Chief Justice Jim Hannah.

Full details about the case against Johnson have not been released. An Arkansas Legislative Audit report released in February showed that since 2009, Johnson had issued more than $60,000 in bonuses to employees without seeking approval from the Quorum Court, which is required by law.

Messages left for Johnson at her office and home were not returned Wednesday, and information about her attorney wasn't available.

Dutch King, the county judge of Jefferson County, has said he will not comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.

In October, Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter asked a judge to appoint a special prosecutor to supervise the probe into Johnson's office. Special prosecutor Jack McQuary was assigned to the case and has said that his office will make no comments until the investigation conducted with the Arkansas State Police concludes.

The audit showed that Johnson "prepared payroll documents which indicated the employees were being compensated for overtime worked. The number of overtime hours reflected on this document (970) far exceeded the number of overtime hours actually worked (55), according to time clock reports."

The county's personnel policy requires that salaried employees receive compensatory time rather than overtime.

The audit also found that Jefferson County Sheriff Gerald Robinson issued $10,000 in bonuses to his employees in 2013 and authorized more than $87,000 in unused holiday pay to jail and sheriff's office employees who resigned or were terminated between 2009 and 2013, all without seeking approval from the Quorum Court.

Additionally, the audit noted that Robinson's office gave more than $34,000 in accrued compensatory time and more than $16,000 in unused sick leave between 2009 and 2013. More than $5,000 in overpayments also were made for employees, which the audit said appeared to be the result of clerical errors by the county clerk's office.

Robinson maintains that his office did nothing wrong.

Johnson continues to serve as Jefferson County clerk. There is no state law prohibiting an official who has been charged with a crime from serving, the Association of Arkansas Counties has said.

State Desk on 04/02/2015

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