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| Oren Paris III plea-bargained to one count, but took the 5th at the trial. |
Ecclesia College FOIA lawsuit continues:
"A Fort Smith law firm has filed a motion to compel Ecclesia College in Springdale to release its fund disbursements in hopes of discovering details of where more than $400,000 in state Grant Improvement Fund money went.
Jim Parsons, a former Ecclesia College board member and 85-year-old Army Green Beret veteran, first petitioned the private Christian college for the information through McCutchen & Sexton Law Firm in Fort Smith in a February 2017 Freedom of Information Act Violation lawsuit.
It was shortly after Micah Neal, a former state representative from Springdale, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud in a case that has so far also ensnared one other former state representative, Jonathan E. Woods, 40, of Springdale, and Randall G. Shelton Jr., a 39-year-old consultant of Alma, in a bribery scheme to direct state funds to Ecclesia College in exchange for kickbacks funneled through the consultant’s business.
Some Ecclesia Inc. documents were provided by Travis Story of Story Law Firm in Springdale to the Fort Smith law firm on April 23. But there were “no canceled checks,” Chip Sexton of McCutchen & Sexton wrote in an email reply April 25 to Story.
“There were no canceled checks or other documents pertaining to the distribution or dissemination of funds from Ecclesia to anyone,” Sexton wrote in the April 25 email to Story.
Story, which represents Ecclesia in the FOIA suit, replied “we still disagree that Ecclesia College is subject to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act).” The Ecclesia defense has been that it is a “church” and not subject to FOIA rules. Sexton argued Friday during a conference call at McCutchen & Sexton Law Firm that although Ecclesia College is a private entity, “it is subject to FOIA because of taxpayer money.”
As noted in the FOIA violation lawsuit, Ecclesia College “is, on information and belief, a college that holds itself out as a church when it is favorable to it to do so and it receives both state and federal funds.”
“I don’t think we got all the records ... I know we didn’t get the records of the disbursement of the funds,” Joey McCutchen of McCutchen & Sexton said Friday. “We filed a motion to compel the records and they still haven’t responded, and I think they are untimely at this point so we’re asking for a hearing to produce those records related to the illegal tax exaction that we’ve claimed.”
Sexton noted that Story has until May 17 to provide the documents under the first request. McCutchen said their claims of illegal tax exaction are being “pared back” because of a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a Missouri church day care. In that case, Missouri’s decision to prevent a church-operated day care and preschool from receiving funding from a state program was deemed unconstitutional.
The financial information requested by Parsons on Ecclesia could shine more light on the inner workings of a private entity that assists students in obtaining federal student aid. McCutchen said there is at least one other state representatives on the periphery of the Ecclesia College scandal that he holds in suspicion.
State Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Berryville, a law partner at Story Law Firm who took office in 2013, was the attorney who prepared the deed work for a questionable land deal between Ecclesia Inc. and James and Patricia Hollingworth in December 2013. The closing agent, Elizabeth Middleton, is no long associated with Wilson & Associates in Little Rock and could not be located Friday for further details.
The house and property at 3870 Al’s Drive in Springdale that was sold for $675,000 to Ecclesia College had been valued by the county at $204,600 on Dec. 2, 2013. Ballinger said Friday the reason the land sold for more than three times its estimated value was because of the U.S. 412 Northern Bypass. Ballinger is running for state Senate District 5 against incumbent state Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest.
“There was no GIF money at that time,” Ballinger said in relation to the Hollingsworth land purchase by Ecclesia. “No GIF money was involved in that transaction.”"
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| It is a family business, so it is none of your business where the money went. |
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