A Huttig woman has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to wire fraud and possession of methamphetamine.
According to a news release from Duane Kees, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, Meredith Atwell, 39, was sentenced Wednesday to 54 months in federal prison, followed by the supervised release. Susan O. Hickey presided over the sentencing hearings in the United States District Court in El Dorado.
According to the release, which cited information filed by Kees, Atwell was employed by South Arkansas Substance Abuse treatment center (SASA) in 2015 when she began converting the non-profits for her personal use by printing out corporate checks and forging the signatures of SASA board members. Atwell continued this into 2016, subsequently stealing more than $140,000 from the nonprofit before the treatment center closed, the release stated.
When the U.S. Attorney’s Office began an investigation into the state’s General Improvement Fund expenditures from Act 791, sponsored in 2013 by then-state Sen. Jon Woods, it was discovered that SASA had received more than $600,000 in those funds in 2013. Investigating the use of those funds is what led to Atwell’s charges.
Woods is one of several state lawmakers who have either been convicted or pleaded guilty to federal crimes as a result of investigations during the past two and a half years. He is serving an 18-year, four-month sentence in federal prison on 15 fraud related counts linked to kickbacks and state grants.
According to the release, while Atwell was incarcerated on charges relating to her plea in the wire fraud case, she was convicted of possessing a prohibited object, methamphetamine, while in prison.
Atwell pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2017, on the wire fraud charges and pleaded guilty on the prohibited object charge on Aug. 9, 2018.
The case was investigated by the Union County Sheriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshal Service, and prosecuted by AUSA’s Ben Wulff.