Jerry Walsh, the former longtime director of the South Arkansas Youth Services Inc. of Magnolia, was sentenced Wednesday to two and a half years in prison for conspiring to misapply more than $380,000 from the now-defunct organization.
He’s another crony of the notorious lobbyist Milton “Rusty” Cranford, who was sentenced to seven years in November for his role in a bribery and fraud scandal that ensnared six former Arkansas lawmakers and Preferred Family Healthcare’s Arkansas operation.
Walsh, 72, who pleaded guilty in July 2018 to federal conspiracy charges, was also ordered by District Judge Susan O. Hickey to pay $515,631 in restitution.
He told authorities that, in 2013, he started providing a monthly “legal retainer” to the senator without expecting the senator to ever provide any legal work. Cranford negotiated the amount paid to the senator, which totaled more than $120,000, according to a news release.
Walsh also admitted to paying Cranford’s lobbying firms above-market prices and employing a relative of Cranford who had a “no-show” job with SAYS.
