Arkansas Business

Lu Hardin, the former University of Central Arkansas president who in March pleaded guilty to two felonies related to a $300,000 bonus he obtained through deception, has been sentenced to five years of probation for each count.

The probation sentences will run concurrently. U.S. District Judge James Moody also sentenced Hardin to 200 hours of community service during each year of his probationary period. And he is required to continue participating in Gamblers Anonymous.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Harris, the prosecutor in the case, said the government would not appeal the sentence.

Moody had calculated the federal sentencing guideline range for Hardin's crimes at 18 to 24 months, but Harris revealed during the hearing that a motion he filed under seal last week recommended a sentence reduction as a reward for Hardin's cooperation in another federal investigation.

Harris did not reveal what that investigation was about, and he said an indictment in the other case might or might not be forthcoming.  After the hearing, Harris said Hardin had met with the FBI concerning the other case after his guilty plea in March. 

That consideration reduced the guideline range to 9 to 12 months, and Moody said he had concluded that probation was "the most appropriate" sentence for Hardin. Chuck Banks, Hardin's defense attorney, called his client's crimes an "aberration" from "a life well lived."

During the 45-minute hearing, Banks made a heartfelt plea for leniency, continuing the argument he began earlier this month with sentencing memorandum outlining reasons for a sentence that would not include prison time.

After Banks' comments, Hardin approached the bench and told Moody that the remorse in his heart "transcends anything that can be written." He also talked about the origins of his gambling addiction, which began the first time he played a slot machine on a vacation 12 years ago.

"It was something I loved from the first time I did it," Hardin said. He said he had been participating in Gamblers Anonymous for "almost a year," meaning he joined the program some two years after he left UCA. 

"I stand before you very sorry," Hardin told Moody. "My conduct was no up to my standards. It was an aberration, but that doesn't justify anything." 

Hardin personally asked the judge for a probationary sentence, but then he said, "Any decision, I can tell you, I humbly accept. Humbly accept."

Hardin was accompanied to court by his wife of 37 years, Mary, and his two children, KARK-TV news anchor Mallory Hardin and Scott "Scooter" Hardin, an employee of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.