State Police Investigate 3 AR Towns

TURRELL, Ark. - Arkansas State Police have launched a criminal investigation into three small Arkansas towns. Allegations have been made that the mayors of the towns, and other elected officials, may be misusing taxpayer money.

The majority of the allegations come from the legislative audits of the towns finances. FOX13 has learned the audit committee has concerns ranging from the mayor of one town turning in unusually high travel expenses to another mayor moving taxpayers money across state lines. The county prosecutor has now asked state police to get involved.

Video shows, store fronts in Turrell, Arkansas are boarded up and vacant, stray dogs litter the roads, and the outside of the water tower is rusted.

After being hung up on 3 times, FOX13 paid a visit to the Turrell town hall where Turrell Mayor Frank Lockhart ordered us to turn off the camera before he would talk with us. Turrell is one of three Arkansas towns, now under investigation by Arkansas State Police.

Crittenden County Prosecuting Attorney, Mike Walden, says state police will be focusing their investigation into where Lockhart is keeping the city's money.

Walden says, "We received indications from the councilmen that maybe the mayor had taken funds and put them in an out of state bank and of course that's something the legislative audit is concerned about and I asked state police to look into that as well."

Mayor Lockhart acknowledges he's moved the money outside of Turrell. He says he has no knowledge of the state police investigation. He later decided to talk with us on camera about the allegations but wouldn't tell FOX13 where the city's money is being kept. Although, he assures us, he'll tell any Turrell taxpayer that walks in his office.

Lockhart says, "It's taxpayers money, it's in the bank and we're using it like we're supposed to be using it. We don't have anything to hide. The money is hid but it's in the bank its' not in my pocket."

But the Turrell City Council doesn't know where the money is either. City Councilman, Floyd Holmes says this copy of a cashiers check, made out to a city sanitation worker, proves Lockhart is banking in Memphis.

Holmes says, "That's how he's been paying sanitation workers and other city employees, with cashiers check from Tri-State Bank in Memphis, that's all we know."

The county prosecutor says he's been told, moving city money across state lines may be illegal. Mayor Lockhart says he moved the money, to keep it out of the hands of what he calls "a corrupt city council."

Lockhart says, "They don't have no fire department, don't want no fire department don't want no police department or nothing like that, then they talk about being corrupt. My gosh!"

Holmes says, "The mayor's completely shut us out and he's running the town by himself. How can this go on like this?"

Prosecutor Mike Walden says, he asked State Police to step now because of the allegations, revealed in the most recent legislative audit.

Walden says, "Primarily because the legislative audit has indicated to me the most recent ones seem to be a little more egregious than some of the problems in the past."

It's not just Turrell, Walden has asked state police to start criminal investigations in Jennette and Jericho, Arkansas as well. We're told their investigation in Jennette, will focus on the mayor and others who have allegedly been reimbursed for unusually high travel expenses, possibly tens of thousands of dollars in travel to Little Rock. Last, year FOX13 was the first to report about the tangled financial web of missing money and state violations in Jennette. We've also told you about residents complaining about bogus traffic tickets in Jericho, the same town where a police officer shot the fire chief inside the courthouse. FOX13 has learned State Police will be looking into those traffic tickets and allegations of inadequate documentation of expenditures. We tried contacting the mayors of both towns, but neither was available. Walden says criminal charges may or may not be warranted.

Walden says, "there may or may not be much criminal law enforcement officers can do about this. This may be something the legislators have to address, but it sounds like there's a problem down there in these communities. And if it's something I can do something about, I'm going try and state police are going to help me."

Meanwhile, Holmes says the town of Turrell will likely continue to run on the mayor's watch. He welcomes a State Police investigation and many Turrell residents, we spoke with, do too.

Kimberly Morgan says, "Someone needs to step in and take over this town because the ones who do it now are running it into the ground, look at our water tower. It looks like a ghost town, everything is boarded up."

Ronald Hopkins says, "It's frustrating, people are scared to come to this town. This town needs to be helped bad."

The Turrell mayor says he's just protecting the taxpayers.

Mayor Lockhart says, "This town is not corrupt. We got corrupt folk that sit on the council of this town. Without them, we wouldn't have this problem we have."

Council members say they're trying to protect taxpayers from the mayor.

Holmes says, "Seems like we're living in a lawless community, society, the way things are going. The mayor has completely taken over. No question about it, he's completely taken over."

Prosecutor, Mike Walden, says the State Police investigation could take anywhere from a month to several months.