Bontiea Goss, well being govt who bribed Arkansas lawmakers, is sentenced to three years in federal jail

A former govt of a behavioral well being care charity was sentenced to 3 years in federal jail Monday for her function in a bribery and public corruption scandal that spanned Arkansas and Missouri, just days after her husband received a six-year prison sentence.

Defendants Bontiea Bernedette Goss, 65, and Tommy Ray Goss, 68, additionally should collectively pay $4.35 million in forfeiture or restitution, in keeping with a U.S. Justice Division information launch.

The Gosses headed Most popular Household Healthcare, a nonprofit primarily based in Springfield, Missouri, that when operated greater than 40 websites throughout Arkansas offering behavioral well being care, substance abuse therapy, help for developmentally disabled individuals and different providers. They and different leaders at Most popular Household Healthcare conspired to bribe legislators and state officers in Little Rock to maintain state Medicaid cash flowing to the corporate.

The Arkansas lawmakers who benefited from the corrupt association with Most popular Household Healthcare included former state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson of Little Rock (the nephew of then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson), former state Sen. Henry “Hank” Wilkins IV of Pine Bluff, and former state Rep. Eddie Cooper of Melbourne. 

The sentencing happened in U.S. District Court docket in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri. Choose Brian C. Wimes additionally fined Bontiea Goss $350,000 and ordered three years of supervised launch. Wimes sentenced Tommy Goss on Friday and fined him $350,000. Each Gosses are to report back to jail June 10.

In 2022, Most popular Household Healthcare agreed to pay greater than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution to the federal authorities and the state of Arkansas beneath a non-prosecution settlement, in keeping with the Justice Department’s release.

Two former executives of a Springfield, Missouri-based charity have been sentenced for his or her roles in a multimillion-dollar public corruption scheme that concerned embezzlement and bribes paid to a number of elected public officers within the State of Arkansas.

Bontiea Bernedette Goss, 65, was sentenced as we speak to 3 years in jail, and her husband, Tommy “Tom” Ray Goss, 68, was sentenced on April 25 to 6 years in jail. They have been additionally ordered to collectively pay $4.35 million in forfeiture and/or restitution.

In accordance with court docket paperwork, Bontiea and Tom Goss have been the previous chief working officer and chief monetary officer, respectively, at Most popular Household Healthcare Inc., a charity that supplied quite a lot of providers to people in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois. A few of these providers included psychological and behavioral well being therapy and counseling, substance abuse therapy and counseling, employment help, help to people with developmental disabilities, and medical providers. In trade for the bribes and kickbacks supplied and paid by the Gosses and their co-conspirators, elected state officers in Arkansas supplied favorable legislative and official motion for the charity, together with, however not restricted to, influencing laws that might influence the charity and directing funds from the State’s Basic Enchancment Fund.

In September 2022, each Bontiea and Tom Goss pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay bribes and kickbacks to elected officers in Arkansas. Tom Goss additionally pleaded responsible to collaborating within the conspiracy by embezzling funds from the charity and to 1 depend of aiding and helping within the preparation and presentation of a false tax return.

In 2022, Most popular Household Healthcare additionally agreed to pay greater than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution to the federal authorities and the State of Arkansas beneath the phrases of a non-prosecution settlement, which acknowledged the legal conduct of its former officers and staff.

As a part of this long-running, multi-jurisdiction federal investigation, extra former executives from the charity, former members of the Arkansas state legislature, and others have pleaded responsible in federal court docket, together with the next:

• Former CEO Marilyn Luann Nolan, of Springfield, Missouri, pleaded guilty in November 2018 to her function in a conspiracy to embezzle and misapply the funds of a charitable group that obtained federal funds.
• Former Director of Operations and Govt Vice President Robin Raveendran, of Little Rock, Arkansas, pleaded guilty in June 2019 to conspiracy to commit bribery regarding applications receiving federal funds.
• Former Govt and Head of Scientific Operations Keith Fraser Noble, of Rogersville, Missouri, pleaded guilty in September 2019 to concealment of a identified felony.
• Former worker and Head of Operations and Lobbying in Arkansas Milton Russell Cranford, often known as Rusty, of Rogers, Arkansas, was sentenced to seven years in jail after pleading responsible to 1 depend of federal program bribery.
• Political marketing consultant Donald Andrew Jones, often known as D.A. Jones, of Willingboro, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to his function in a conspiracy from April 2011 to January 2017 to steal from a company that receives federal funds.
• Former Arkansas State Senator Jeremy Hutchinson, of Little Rock, pursuant to a world plea settlement, pleaded responsible on June 25, 2019 within the Japanese District of Arkansas to submitting a false tax return; pleaded responsible on June 25, 2019, to an data filed within the Western District of Arkansas to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery; and pleaded responsible within the Western District of Missouri on July 8, 2019, to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. Hutchinson was sentenced to eight years in jail.
• Former Arkansas State Consultant Eddie Wayne Cooper, of Melbourne, Arkansas, pleaded guilty in February 2018 to conspiracy to embezzle greater than $4 million from Most popular Household Healthcare.
• Former Arkansas State Senator and State Consultant Henry “Hank” Wilkins IV pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and devising a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive the residents of the State of Arkansas of their proper to trustworthy providers. Wilkins was sentenced to 1 yr and at some point in jail.

 

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