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State Police Investigating Faulkner County Financial Filings

2 min read

CONWAY — Arkansas State Police is investigating whether employees in the Faulkner County clerk’s office tampered with financial paperwork for public officials to make it appear as if they were filed on time.

Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland sought a review by state police, citing irregularities with filings of financial interest statements by county elected officials. The documents provide limited information on sources of income and holdings in the previous year for officials and their spouses.

“In particular, I have received information that would indicate SFI’s from multiple elected county officials were filed subsequent to the legal deadline … but were improperly file stamped to reflect a timely filing and compliance with the law,” Hiland said in a letter to the state police dated last week.

Agency spokesman Bill Sadler said, “An investigative file has been opened. It is an active case.”

Such financial statements are due annually by Jan. 31 for most public-office holders, but since the date fell on a Saturday this year, the documents were due by the next business day, Feb. 2.

Clerk Margaret Darter has declined to comment on the matter to the Log Cabin Democrat. She told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday that she hasn’t been pressured to resign over the matter.

The two newspapers obtained a Feb. 27 email sent by Darter to all 13 justices of the peace through an open-records request. She reminded them to file their statements and that she would “hand file them for January 31st.”

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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