MORE NEWS IN LEGISLATIVE KICKBACK SCANDAL

It appears that Preferred Family Healthcare ("PFH") has decided to distance itself from Rusty Cranford as his replacement has been announced.

RUSTY CRANFORD

Cranford was the individual that established a shell company, AmeriWorks, that received $400,000 from the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District ("NWEDD") at the direction of former state Representative Micah Neal and outgoing state Senator Jon Wood. According to Neal's plea deal, both Neal and Wood received kickbacks from Cranford for their help in his obtaining the funds.

You can check out our previous posts about the scandal here and here.

Cranfords replacement is Charlie Green, director of the Behavioral Health Services Division with the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

CHARLIE GREEN

Green said he will become chief executive of Preferred Family Healthcare Arkansas on January 30th.

Green's resignation from the Department of Human Services takes effect January 27th, according the DHS Deputy Chief of Communications, Brandi Hinkle.


BRANDI HINKLE - ONE OF DHS' TALKING HEADS

Reggie McElhannon, a spokesman for Preferred Family Healthcare, has said Decision Point had planned to pass the grant to AmeriWorks but ended up returning it instead. He has denied that Preferred Family Healthcare paid any kickbacks.

REGGIE MCELHANNON - PFH SPOKESMAN

McElhannon's statement about turning the funds over to Cranford's shell company AmeriWorks, conflicts with statements he issued last week denying any "legal connection" to AmeriWorks.

Besides at the time the funds were issued to AmeriWorks in 2013, and returned by Cranford in 2014, PFH had not merged with Decision Point. The merger took place a year later in 2015.

This is the statement McElhannon provided to use last week:

This is the letter Cranford sent with a check for the return of the $400,000 to NWAEDD.

Did you notice that the check was drawn from the Missouri bank account of Dayspring Behavioral Health Services? How did they get the funds?

McElhannon issued a statement on Friday that stated Cranford is "in a voluntary inactive role with our organization."

No doubt, Cranford is probably on his way to prison with Neal, unless he cut a deal with the U.S. Attorney.

We received additional documents from the NWAEDD this week and we found some interesting information.

Crandford's funding request packet had a nice handwritten note from Senator Jon Wood that stated "AmeriWorks is pretty solid".

The funny thing is that AmeriWorks didn't officially exist until after Cranford made his grant application. Cranford filed paperwork with the Arkansas Secretary of Sate the very day NWAEED cut him the checks totally $400,000.

We suspect Cranford was laughing all the way to the bank.

Documents that we obtained from NWAEDD related to funds they releaseds has some other interesting information and you can expect more posts to follow.

Arkansas State Police Trooper fired

I n June 2023 a teenage female filed a compliant with the Arkansas State Police ("ASP") about Corporal Michael Valentin, an ASP Trooper stationed in Harrison, AR. In her complaint she alleged that Valentin had groomed her and had sexual activities, while on duty, with her and another minor female. She also alleged he was stalking her. An internal investigation was opened. Both teenage females were interviewed as was Valentin. The girls stated that they were acquainted with Valentine because one of them was the stepdaughter of a fellow trooper and Valentin was a frequent customer at the restaurant that the fellow trooper and his wife owned, where both of the girls worked. The fellow state trooper was Jason Hutcheson. And the restaurant was Hutch's Hot Chicken. Jason Hutcheson Valentin even helped out with some construction projects at Hutcheson's restaurant. The girls stated that for about nine months, Valentin had causal encounters with them at different locat...

Arkansas State Police Troopers fired for illicit sexual relationship

Two Arkansas State Police Troopers were fired on April 5, 2024 after administrative investigations were conducted into accusations that they were romantically involved. Sgt. Mark Austin Blackerby (38 and married) of Scott and Trooper Jessica Diane McCord (30 and single) of Conway during their interviews with the State Police Office of Professional Standards ("OPS") in January 2024, were dishonest about the affair according to records provided to us by the ASP. Blackerby and his wife Cassie - a Jacksonville cop Initially, the investigation focused on Blackerby and both Blackerby and McCord denied a sexual relationship even though ASP vehicle tracking systems showed their vehicles parked at secluded locations for hours at at time and his vehicle at her home in Conway multiple times when he was on the clock. Blackerby admitted that he also disabled the tracking devices in his vehicle to try and hide his movements and their hookups. Blackerby told investigators that he is a ...

Fired Dover City Marshal Nathan Jones Accused of Exploiting Dying Man to Take Control of His Estate

A video of a part-time Dover, AR city marshal threatening a local business that went viral on social media, resulted in his termination of employment on October 1st. Here's the video. Apparently Jones was the subject of rumors in the town. Rumors about meth pipes and the 479 Smoke Shop. According to records obtained from the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards & Training ("CLEST"), Jones previously worked part-time for the Dover Marshal's Office from October 26, 2007 through January 2, 2009. Jones was also elected in 2023 as the Martin Township Constable and held that position under he lost to Ricky "Perch" Parks in 2025. Don't worry about Jones losing his part-time job. As his campaign literature detailed, he owns a couple of businesses in area. During our investigation of Jones for this story, we found that he had been accused of exploiting Daniel L. Koester, 64 years old, who had cancer and had been in hospice after sufferin...

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