A former Arkansas lawmaker secretly recorded his colleagues and others for months, according to testimony Friday.
During a hearing in the corruption trial of former state Sen. Jon Woods, former state Rep. Micah Neal said he recorded any conversations he thought would interest federal investigators between March and October 2016, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. He reportedly said he made the recordings on his own initiative.
Defense attorneys challenged the account, pointing to a text between Neal's attorney, Shane Wilkinson, and FBI investigator Robert Cessario, in which Cessario asks if "your guy" was willing to talk to a friend of Woods, according to the newspaper.
After Neal's testimony, Wilkinson told the newspaper that the exchange was a discussion of whether Neal was willing to wear a FBI wire to record a conversation, which the FBI decided against.
Woods and Neal are accused of taking kickbacks in return for steering a total of $550,000 in state grants to Springdale-based Ecclesia College, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
The kickbacks were reportedly passed through a consulting firm owned by Randell G. Shelton Jr., a mutual friend of Woods and Ecclesia College President Oren Paris III.
Woods, Shelton and Paris are set for trial April 9, records show. Woods faces 15 counts of fraud, all relating to either wire or mail transfers of money. Paris and Shelton are named in 14 of the fraud charges. All three are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Woods is also charged with one count of money laundering.
Neal pleaded guilty in January 2017 to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. He has not been sentenced.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
