Convicted Forger Donna Herring Declares Bankruptcy, Awaits Sentencing

Donna Herring admitted to creating a will after Matthew Seth Jacobs, who had survived the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010, died in a one-vehicle wreck in January 2015.

Did you know Donna Herring, the former Camden real estate agent who orchestrated the infamous fake will case, is now in bankruptcy?

Back in March, Herring filed for Chapter 13 reorganization, listing $101,000 in debts and $110,000 in assets.

Her most valuable asset is her home in Camden, which sits on 6.3 acres. The loan balance on her place is $102,000, which is owed to Generations Bank of Rogers.

As far as her debts, she listed “unknown” as the amount owed to the estate of Matthew Seth Jacobs.

As you may remember, Herring pleaded guilty way back in January 2018 to a federal charge in connection with a scheme to create a fake will for Jacobs.

Jacobs had survived the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in 2010 and had received a sizable settlement before he died at 34 in a one-car accident in January 2015.

The fake will left the bulk of Jacobs’ $1.7 million estate to Herring’s daughter, Jordan Alexandra Peterson, now 24. Peterson, who goes by Alex, and Jacobs had a romantic relationship that dated to 2013, the year she turned 18.

In the bankruptcy filing, Herring said she is unemployed and receives $1,300 a month from Social Security. The bankruptcy file also mentions that in October 2017, Herring sold a Rolex watch, valued at $3,000, for $2,500.

Jack Gooding of Little Rock, the Chapter 13 standing trustee, said in a filing last month that creditors would receive more money from a Chapter 7 liquidation. He asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard D. Taylor to deny Herring’s plan to repay creditors and dismiss the Chapter 13 case.

A hearing on that issue is set for Aug. 22 in Bankruptcy Court in El Dorado.

Her attorney, Robert Rushing of El Dorado, didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

Court Dates?

Meanwhile, as of Thursday afternoon, Herring still doesn’t have a court date for sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge Susan O. Hickey.

That also goes for the others who pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the fake will case: Peterson, who pleaded guilty in January 2018, and Herring’s sister and brother-in-law, Marion “Diane” Kinley and John Wayne Kinley Jr., who pleaded guilty in April 2018.

We’ll let you know when a sentencing date gets on the docket.