As a former high-ranking state official, Steven Jones should be sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison for accepting bribes to benefit the owner of two mental-health service providers Jones oversaw, a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
The recommendation was contained in a memorandum filed in advance of Jones' sentencing hearing, which is set for Feb. 18 before U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson.
No sentencing memorandum had been filed on behalf of Jones as of Thursday evening, and his attorney, Michael Booker of Little Rock, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. However, Booker indicated in a court document filed last month that he intends to present evidence at the hearing that Jones "has a significant record of achievement," in the hope that it will mitigate the sentence.
As deputy director of the state Department of Human Services from April 2007 until July 2013, Jones oversaw five of the 10 divisions in the largest state agency, which has more than 7,500 employees and a budget of about $6.8 billion, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Jegley wrote.
She noted that the 50-year-old Crittenden County resident previously served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for about six years, representing District 54, which included most of Crittenden County.
"While serving as deputy director of ADHS, Jones solicited and accepted multiple cash payments and other things of value from Theodore E. Suhl, the owner of two businesses that provided inpatient and outpatient mental health services to juveniles," Jegley said in the pre-sentencing memorandum. "Suhl provided the cash payments and other things of value to the defendant through the use of two intermediaries, Phillip Carter, a former county probation officer and city councilman, and a local pastor."
Suhl, 60, of Warm Springs is facing six charges -- conspiracy to commit bribery, three counts of honest services fraud, and one count each of federal funds bribery and interstate travel in aid of bribery. He has pleaded innocent. Carter, 46, pleaded guilty Sept. 16 to the conspiracy charge and has yet to be sentenced.
The pastor mentioned in the memorandum hasn't been publicly identified or charged with a crime.
In pleading guilty Oct. 2, 2014, Jones admitted that from about August 2009 through February 2012, he solicited and received more than $5,000 in cash, in addition to free meals and other things, from Suhl, who owned for-profit companies Trinity Behavioral Health of Warm Springs and Maxus Inc., which is based in Marion and did business statewide as Arkansas Counseling Associates. Jegley's sentencing memo says Jones admitted to receiving $10,000 to $20,000 in cash payments from Suhl.
In return, Jones said, he provided official assistance, including providing internal departmental information about Suhl's businesses.
After Jones' guilty plea, the department cut off Medicaid funding for both businesses. At the time, Trinity treated about 90 children at its Warm Springs inpatient facility, and Maxus provided outpatient care to more than 2,500 Medicaid beneficiaries. The two companies received more than $90 million in Medicaid reimbursements through the department from 2007 through 2012, according to the indictment.
In the memo Thursday, Jegley also noted the furtive nature of the conspiracy, saying Jones admitted that he and his fellow conspirators held meetings at restaurants in Memphis or in rural Arkansas, where they wouldn't be easily recognized, and funneled the cash payments through the pastor's church, using cash so the transactions wouldn't be easily traceable. She said Jones also admitted that the men spoke "in code" during telephone conversations.
Jegley said that under federal sentencing guidelines, Jones should receive a four-level enhancement for his role as a high-level decision-maker or the holder of a sensitive position.
"The defendant served as one of the top three public officials in Arkansas' largest state agency," Jegley wrote. "In that prominent role, the defendant had substantial policy-making and managerial authority and had direct responsibility and oversight for five of the agency's ten divisions."
She noted that the department works with community mental health centers to provide services to adults and children, and that, as one of the agency's two deputy directors, Jones worked directly with the directors of divisions that use state and federal funds for programs that include those for at-risk and delinquent youths.
Jegley also noted that Jones "frequently met with the governor and the governor's staff, and he liaised with members of the state legislature, the governor's cabinet members and senior officials in the executive and judicial branches regarding policy matters, pending legislation and legal decisions impacting [the department]."
She said that with the four-level enhancement factored in, the guidelines recommend a sentence of 30 to 37 months in prison for Jones, but because the government agreed during plea negotiations to recommend the low end of whatever range applied, prosecutors are seeking 30 months.
Jegley said she expects that Jones will argue that he is entitled to a "downward variance," or an exception to the usual penalty range, but she urged the judge to sentence him within the range.
"Although the defendant has served in public positions for most of his professional career, and has a record of achievement in this regard, such commendable behavior does not diminish the seriousness of his conduct," she said.
"Indeed, as a career public servant, the defendant, if anyone, should have realized that public service is a public trust, and that a state official in such a prominent and sensitive position must always place loyalty to the Constitution, state and federal laws, and core principles of ethical conduct above private gain," she said. "By selling out and lining his own pockets, the defendant breached the trust that Arkansans bestowed upon him."
Metro on 01/29/2016