CRITTENDEN COUNTY, AR – Missing money, missing receipts, too much power... just some of the complaints that have the Arkansas State Police looking into three towns in Crittenden County. District Prosecutor Mike Walden called for the investigation into Jericho, Turrell and Jennette. He said audit reports and complaints from city council members prompted him to do so.
Franklin Lockhart is Mayor of Turrell. He said he had not heard about the investigation until Eyewitness News told him about it.
"I thought the Arkansas State Police was in charge of criminal acts,” Lockhart said. “Ain't nobody done nothing that is wrong or criminal. I'm no criminal."
Three small town governments are on the defensive. Reports from state auditors on the towns of Jericho and Jennette got the attention of prosecutors. Complaints from city council members tipped them off to Turrell.
"That comes right on the heels of me turning on the evening news and seeing people complain about tickets and other events that take place in these towns,” said 2nd District Prosecuting
Attorney Mike Walden. “So there's just a whole complexion that shows me there are problems in these small towns."
Undocumented payments and incomplete or non-existing budgets were just some of the red flags in Jennette and Jericho. But is it just bad bookkeeping, or is somebody breaking the law? Walden says that's what he wants to find out.
"Sometimes they [small town governments] aren't well-equipped to deal with such things as law enforcement and accounting and things of that nature," said Walden.
In Turrell, City Councilman Floyd Holmes says Mayor Lockhart won't meet with them, much less let them have a say in the city's finances. Holmes says the mayor took all the town’s money and put it in a bank in Memphis. The mayor said he did what he had to do to run the place.
"I want to make sure that every dime we get that is the citizen's money is well taken care of," Lockhart said.
"There's been a history of differences between that mayor and that council,” Walden said. “But if in fact funds are being transferred out of state, we certainly need to determine if that's happened, why that's happened, is it continuing, and what needs to be done about it."
The Arkansas State Police will wrap up its investigation and turn over the findings to the prosecutor, who will then decide whether or not any charges need to be filed.
Walden says the investigation has been underway for a couple weeks.
