The former Craighead County clerk has agreed to repay the county more than $1.4 million he is accused of stealing, according to court documents.
Circuit Court Judge Richard Lusby approved on Sept. 10 an agreed-upon consent judgment between Kade Holliday, the former clerk, and the county. The agreement will require Holliday to pay $1,415,304 to the county, plus $35,082.99 in interest. He also will pay $21,025.74 in attorney's fees and costs.
Holliday, 31, resigned in July and was charged with 13 counts of theft of property and one count of abuse of office. He is accused of stealing about $1.6 million from Craighead County, which sued Holliday to recoup the money.
Dustin McDaniel, Holliday's attorney, said Tuesday the consent judgment was made in an effort to avoid wasting the county's resources on further civil litigation. He said Holliday is expected to move forward with bankruptcy procedures sometime in the future, which will stay in further state litigation.
Craighead County Judge Marvin Day said he was happy Lusby accepted the agreed upon consent judgment.
"This is just the first step in the procedure to collect what is owed to the people of Craighead County," he said.
Day said he isn't sure when the county will begin collecting the funds, but he hopes it will begin in the next 30 days if possible.
"We got to find some assets and work through the court system," he said.
McDaniel agreed, saying that the county will probably receive some funds soon and that the parties are working together to address some of Holliday's assets to satisfy the judgment.
This agreement has no effect on Holliday's criminal charges.
Arkansas State University announced last year the creation of an endowed professorship of jazz studies and an endowed scholarship for outstanding students in the jazz program from a $500,000 gift commitment from Holliday. He also pledged additional annual gifts while the endowments build to maturity.
Jeff Hankins, a spokesman for the ASU System, said Tuesday that since the time of Holliday's arrest, the funds received from him have remained frozen in Arkansas State University System Foundation accounts.
"Our general counsel has stayed in touch with the county, but no action has been taken at this time," he said.
Holliday's job with the county included submitting payroll reports, which involved factoring in unemployment insurance, income taxes, Social Security, retirement system contributions and health and life insurance.
A probable-cause affidavit stated that Holliday began transferring thousands of dollars from the county's payroll holding account into his personal account beginning Jan. 23 and continued until June 24. To date, the amount of the transfers is $1,579,057, according to court documents.
Holliday transferred the funds from a county-owned bank account to his personal bank accounts on 12 occasions and used it for his personal benefit, the affidavit stated. The actions created a deficit to Craighead County for unpaid payroll taxes and retirement contributions, court records show.
Holliday embezzled money from the county, causing a "deficit to Craighead County for payroll taxes and retirement contributions," according to a probable cause affidavit.
Holliday, a Republican, replaced Nancy Nelms in 2012 as county clerk. He was elected when he was 24 years old.