The Newton County assessor was arrested Monday afternoon on a felony perjury charge after a handwriting expert determined she had forged her deceased mother's name on more than 50 documents.
Sheila McCutcheon was arrested at her office in the Newton County Courthouse in Jasper, handcuffed and driven 19 miles north to the Harrison Police Department, where she posted $10,000 bond and was released, Harrison Police Chief Paul Woodruff said.
McCutcheon was arrested after it was alleged that she stated under oath Feb. 11, 2016, that she had never forged her mother's signature, according to the charge filed Thursday in Boone County Circuit Court.
"The defendant stated she had never signed her mother's name to the documents in question and denied having ever forged her mother's name, while under oath before a court reporter and other witnesses," according to the court document, which was signed by Brad Brown, deputy prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' 14th Judicial Circuit.
An obituary in the Newton County Times indicates Frances Lorene Smith of Vendor died June 22, 2014, at age 82. Survivors included Sheila McCutcheon of Vendor.
The perjury charge stems from a civil-court case regarding Smith's estate.
Handwriting samples were submitted to Dawn Phillips, a document examiner, who determined that McCutcheon had signed Smith's name on six sets of documents and two checks, according to the charge. Also, Phillips determined that McCutcheon had signed Smith's name to endorse more than 50 checks.
Nineteen other checks had "limited indications" of having been written by McCutcheon, according to the court filing. And McCutcheon signed her mother's name to open two bank accounts, Brown wrote.
McCutcheon didn't return a telephone call Thursday.
It was her second arrest within a year.
McCutcheon and her daughter-in-law, Desiray McCutcheon, were arrested June 17 by the Arkansas State Police after a state audit revealed that $11,504 worth of personal items were purchased with county credit cards from 2010 through 2015, according to charges filed in Newton County Circuit Court.
Sheila McCutcheon is scheduled for an April 21 trial in the theft case.
McCutcheon, a Republican, resigned in June after the theft charge. She had already filed for re-election, running unopposed for the job she had held since 1997.
Since she was the only candidate running for assessor, McCutcheon was re-elected in November and resumed office in January.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated 21-12-302, a county officer who is convicted of a felony shall be ousted from office, but McCutcheon has yet to stand trial.
George Stone, her attorney, said in January that McCutcheon wrote a check for about $10,000 to repay the county but that she had been making payments over the years as she used the county's credit card and occasionally purchased personal items with it.
Stone didn't return a telephone call Thursday.
Vickie Bartholomew, the Newton County treasurer, confirmed that McCutcheon wrote a check to the county in June for $10,458.
McCutcheon was deputy assessor from 1993 through 1996 before being elected assessor for the first time.
According to charges filed by Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge of Mountain Home, Arkansas Legislative Audit examined purchases by the assessor's office that included several personal items, including groceries, on the county's credit cards. In December 2015, state police were called in to investigate. The cards were meant to be used for assessor's office supplies.
On May 19, the women were interviewed and admitted using the credit cards to purchase personal items, according to the charges.
Metro on 03/10/2017