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Hearing Set for Accountant in Roach Embezzlement CaseLock Icon

2 min read

The former Jonesboro accountant who has a $9 million civil judgment against him for embezzling money seems to be getting ready to plead guilty to a crime.

Edward M. Cooper Jr. has a felony waiver hearing set for 3:15 p.m. Jan. 7 in front of Chief Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.

That generally means that a defendant has waived his right to be indicted by a grand jury and will instead plead guilty to one or more felonies filed directly by the federal prosecutors. But there wasn’t much on the federal docket that suggested what charge or charges Cooper might be facing.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas declined to comment. Cooper’s attorney, William Jennings Stanley of the Jonesboro firm Stanley & Woodard, didn’t return a call seeking comment.

Back in February, a Craighead County judge ordered Cooper to pay Roach Manufacturing Corp. in Trumann $9 million for embezzling money since the mid-1990s.

The conveyor system manufacturer had asked Circuit Judge John Fogleman to rule in its favor before the case got to trial on some of its claims against Cooper. The claims were breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, unjust enrichment and commission of a felony.

In response, Cooper denied any theft or embezzlement, but he admitted that he “misappropriated monies from Roach.” He didn’t provide additional details, and he relied on his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in his answer to the original complaint.

Roach initially alleged in a lawsuit filed in May 2018 that Cooper embezzled $4.5 million over several years. After doing more digging, Roach said the embezzlement went back almost 30 years and was double the amount first thought.

Arkansas Business reported in January that the feds were interested in Cooper.

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