A former Arkansas Department of Health employee was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for her involvement in a scheme that stole money from a program intended to feed children.
Gladys Waits, 37, of Little Rock was also ordered to pay about $9.6 million in restitution and must serve three years of supervised release, acting U.S. Attorney Patrick Harris said in a statement.
Authorities say Waits processed inflated applications from sponsors who applied to participate in feeding programs for low-income children.
Waits was responsible for approving several feeding programs between August 2012 and August 2014 that reported figures that were higher than the actual number of children fed.
Bribe payments for sponsor approval were given to Waits through checks payable to her and indirectly to relatives, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Arkansas said.
Read Tuesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
