{"id":52978,"date":"2023-04-26T11:21:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T18:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=52978"},"modified":"2023-04-26T11:21:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T18:21:46","slug":"former-arkansas-state-senator-sentenced-to-prison-for-role-in-bribery-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=52978","title":{"rendered":"Former Arkansas State Senator Sentenced to Prison for Role in Bribery Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span> Former Arkansas Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (left) arrives in 2018 at the federal courthouse in Little Rock with his father, former U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson. (Credit: File Photo\/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Federal officials stated that a former Arkansas state senator was sentenced Tuesday to four years and two months in prison for accepting bribes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The plea agreement indicated that Jeremy Hutchinson, 48, of Little Rock, admitted to filing a false tax return and conspiracy to commit federal program bribery in federal court in Arkansas. In Missouri, he also plead guilty to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span> Jeremy Hutchinson, 48, of Little Rock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Feb. 3, Hutchison was sentenced<\/a> to three years and ten months in prison for his convictions in Arkansas. <\/span>His sentence in Missouri will run consecutively with Arkansas sentences for a total of eight years on all the criminal cases.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to court documents concerning his plea in the Western District of Missouri, Hutchinson was hired by then-chief operating officer Bontiea Goss as outside counsel for Preferred Family Healthcare Inc. (formerly known as Alternative Opportunities Inc.), a Springfield, Missouri-based healthcare charity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"closeupIn exchange for payments and legal work, Hutchinson performed official acts on behalf of Preferred Family Healthcare, including holding up agency budgets and drafting and voting on legislation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Preferred Family Healthcare paid Hutchinson over $350,000 in monthly retainer payments from May 2014 until 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

According to court records, an estimated $20 million of taxpayer money went to bribes and kickbacks to those involved in the scheme, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

At its peak, Preferred Family collected $43.9 million in 2016 from the state’s Medicaid-funded mental health program — one in every seven dollars the program spent that year, the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Democrat-Gazette reported that court records indicated that the Gosses used Preferred Family money to provide interest-free loans to their for-profit businesses and pay marked-up vehicle leasing fees to one of their companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over four years, the nonprofit paid $2 million to lease the vehicles from the Gosses’ company, which had leased those vehicles from another company for $1.1 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to court records, Preferred Family also paid for charter flights from Springfield to the Gosses’ second home in Colorado.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In 2022, Preferred Family Healthcare agreed to pay more than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution to the federal government and Arkansas under the terms of a non-prosecution agreement, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The company admitted to the criminal conduct of its former officers and employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several former executives from the charity, former members of the Arkansas state legislature, and others have pleaded guilty in federal court as part of the long-running, multi-jurisdiction investigation, including the following:<\/span><\/p>\n