SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A former lobbyist has pleaded guilty to bribing former state senators Jon Woods and Henry "Hank" Wilkins IV and an as-yet unnamed "Senator A" who court documents say received $500,000 in bribes, attorney's fees and tickets to the 2013 World Series from a Missouri-based nonprofit.
Milton R. "Rusty" Cranford, of Bentonville, pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of federal program bribery for his role in bribing the lawmakers as Arkansas director of Preferred Family Healthcare of Springfield, Mo. The crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He waived indictment by a grand jury to plead guilty to this new charge in a deal in which other counts were dropped.
"Senator A" filed Senate Bill 62 of 2015 and Senate Bill 655 of the same year, court documents show. The sponsor of those bills, legislative records show, is Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson of Little Rock. Hutchinson, reached by telephone on Thursday, said he had no immediate comment but would have a response later. Hutchinson is the nephew of Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
In 2013, another, unnamed company that rated behavioral health service providers such as Preferred Family was told Wilkins would use his position on the Joint Budget Committee to make sure its contract was not renewed unless it accommodated requests from Cranford, the lobbyist's plea agreement says.
In all, the three lawmakers steered about $1 million in state General Improvement Fund money to Cranford's clients, and another $400,000 to a company he set up, the plea document says.
Cranford was originally charged with nine counts alleging he helped unnamed executives embezzle almost $1 million from his former client and employer, Preferred Family Healthcare of Springfield, Mo., according to his Feb. 20 federal indictment. The nonprofit behavioral health provider operates in five states, including 47 locations in Arkansas.
Cranford had paid bribes to Arkansas legislators since at least 2010, court documents show.
The embezzled money was used for personal benefit and to pay for illegal lobbying, the indictment says. Federal agents arrested Cranford on Feb. 21 in Rogers. He has remained in custody since, denied bail in part because prosecutors allege he tried to have a co-conspirator killed. Cranford was originally indicted on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of accepting bribes.
Cranford is also a named as a co-conspirator of former state Sen. Jon Woods and Rep. Micah Neal, both of Springdale. Cranford paid kickbacks to the two in return for their support of $400,000 in state grants. Those grants went to a company Cranford set up only after the grants were approved.
Neal pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy on Jan. 4 of last year in that and other kickback schemes. Woods was convicted May 3 in the same schemes. Cranford was not charged in Arkansas.
Wilkins, the former Arkansas lawmaker, took about $80,000 in bribes from 2010 to 2014, according to his April 30 guilty plea. Wilkins' plea documents cited two parties that paid bribes but did not name them. Federal authorities in Missouri confirmed that one was Cranford in a March 16 hearing in which Cranford was denied bail. The other was an unnamed nonprofit based in Pine Bluff that paid Wilkins $20,000.
Eddie Wayne Cooper of Melbourne, a former state representative who went to work for Cranford's lobbying firm after leaving office in 2011, pleaded guilty Feb. 12 in Missouri to one count of conspiracy. Cooper pleaded guilty to the same embezzlement and illegal lobbying scheme that Cranford was indicted for in Missouri. He also pleaded guilty to further embezzlement involving the same individuals who took another $3 million from Preferred Family, according to his plea documents. At one time, Cooper sat on the nonprofit's board.
Check back for updates and read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.