For 2 fired by utility, no charges

Prosecutor passes on Corbitt, Miller

The prosecuting attorney’s office will not pursue criminal charges against Little Rock Wastewater’s former chief who approved spending public funds to accommodate a top manager’s rent-free stays on utility property, a chief deputy prosecutor said Tuesday.

The manager also won’t be charged.

“There has to be intent to defraud and some sort of criminal intent on the part of the actors, and we just didn’t see we could prove criminal intent,” said chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson of the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney’s office.

Since January, prosecutors have been reviewing a case file forwarded to them by Little Rock Police Department detectives that summarized “questionable expenditures” and certain actions by then-Wastewater Chief Executive Officer Reggie Corbitt and then-Operations Manager Stan Miller. Both officials were placed on administrative leave after a December article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported on the situation, and both were fired the next month when the police report affirmed the newspaper articles.

Corbitt approved Miller’s intermittent stays on treatment plants for an unknown length of time going back years, as well as the issuance of a 24-hour-access pass to one of the plants for Miller’s girlfriend, documents show. At least$15,944 of ratepayer funds were spent on labor and parts to prepare a site for and make improvements to Miller’s mobile homes and to purchase a fence and heating pad for Miller’s dog, according to the records. The Wastewater finance staff estimated another $12,624 was spent providing utilities for Miller while he lived there and for his girlfriend, who often stayed and did laundry on-site.

Police noted that Arkansas Code 14-42-108 prohibits any city official or employee from receiving water, electricity or other services without paying for it at the same rate and manner that the general public is required to do so.

But Johnson said that since Corbitt indicated that Miller lived at the plant to supervise employees and benefit the utility, and since Miller had Corbitt’s approval for the purchases, it’s hard to say there was criminal intent to defraud.

“BAD BUSINESS PRACTICES”

“The way it was explained in the case file, those [trailer] improvements were made for the benefit of Little Rock Wastewater. They were improvements that needed to be made because there had to be on-site supervision, whether it was Miller or anyone else, for the utility. Again, you have to look at the difference between criminal intent to defraud versus bad business practices or whether or not there is a more financially responsible way to accomplish something,” Johnson said.

When asked how purchasing the dog pen and heating blanket benefited the utility, Johnson said he is “not going to go through a line-item list of things people have questions about, what was spent on what items and the reasons behind it.”

“These were things that were done with consent of the CEO, and the question is whether there was criminal intent on his part or the manager,” Johnson said. “These things were more civil in nature. … Rather than going through a laundry list of all the things that were done, the best I can do is tell you in an overall sense we had to distinguish between criminal intent and bad business.”

Corbitt’s attorney, Ken Shemin, said Tuesday that the prosecutor’s decision not to pursue charges “is exciting news.” He said Corbitt, who has not returned numerous phone messages and emails left for him over the past five months, was waiting for the outcome of the case-file review before commenting on the situation, but that he would want to speak about the investigation and outcome now.

Shemin said he left voice messages for Corbitt and his wife Tuesday to notify them of the decision but by Tuesday afternoon had not heard back, noting they may be traveling. An email sent to Corbitt by the newspaper was not answered Tuesday.

Miller, who previously had declined to comment, could not be reached Tuesday.

Ward 4 Little Rock City Director Brad Cazort, who had been vocal about his disapproval of the way Corbitt ran the utility, said Tuesday that regardless of whether criminal charges are filed, it is clear that wrongdoing occurred.

“I’m not comfortable saying whether or not the prosecutor’s office made a correct decision - I have not seen everything they’ve seen - but even if it didn’t rise to the level of a crime, it far exceeded the level of acceptability and use of taxpayer funds,” Cazort said. “It could not be allowed to go on and should not have ever happened. Whether it was criminally wrong or not, it was publicly, morally and any other kind of wrong you want to say.”

Ward 5 City Director Lance Hines, who serves as liaison between the Board of Directors and the Sanitary Sewer Committee, which governs the utility, said Tuesday that Corbitt’s actions were “definitely bad business practices that could have bordered on criminal, but that’s the prosecutor’s take that it wasn’t criminal, and we’ll have to live with that.”

“I think I’m as puzzled as you are. Prosecutors in a lot of cases look at what can they actually prove in court. It may be wrong, but I don’t know that they feel they have enough to pursue. That’s going to be their prerogative … but bad decisions were made,” Hines said.

MISSING PIPES, TARGET PRACTICE

Prosecutors also reviewed whether Miller and Corbitt committed a crime by allowing Doug Meyer - owner of Maumelle-based real estate business TerraForma LLC - to haul off hundreds of feet of pipe belonging to the utility that had been sitting outside for decades.

The state statute cited by police in the trailer matter also states that it is unlawful for any city employee to give away property belonging to a public agency unless payment is made to the agency at regular rates.

Meyer owns rental property next door to where Miller lived at the time the pipe was given to Meyer in 2011. Both Miller and Corbitt said that Meyer would be doing the utility a favor by dragging off the pipe because it was an eyesore, Meyer previously told the newspaper. He didn’t pay for the material but spent his own money to have it relocated, he said, adding that he didn’t think the deal was improper because Corbitt approved it.

The utility’s own protocol and policy dealing with the retirement of equipment wasn’t followed with the pipe removal, but Johnson said again that there is no proof that anyone had any criminal intent.

Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, who used to be the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney, said Tuesday upon hearing the decision not to press charges that it was the right decision in terms of being able to prove criminal intent. He added that there were clearly lapses of communication in terms of what’s proper and not regarding the pipe incident.

“The independence of the investigation was important to allow the public to know that this was done independently by an authority that is charged with the responsibility of making these kinds of conclusions,” Stodola said.

Interim CEO John Jarratt, director of administration and community outreach, said the utility didn’t have a comment on the prosecutor’s decision, adding that it is a matter for the sewer committee to comment on.

Sewer Committee Chairman Marilyn Perryman didn’t return a phone message Tuesday.

In addition to the expenditures and the pipe, prosecutors also reviewed a third issue of vandalism and weapon use on utility property.

Multiple Wastewater employees told police that they and Miller often fired their weapons on land behind a rural treatment plant near the Arkansas River. However, Miller denied doing so.

Several signs at the plant were riddled with bullet holes, but utility management never determined who vandalized the signs. After the vandalism issue first came to the attention of Wastewater officials last fall, the utility implemented a no-weapons policy.

The police summary of the department’s investigation noted that Arkansas Code 5-38-203 states that someone commits criminal mischief in the first degree by vandalizing property of another and that city code makes it illegal to fire a weapon inside city limits.

Johnson said there “simply wasn’t enough evidence” to charge anyone on the weapon use and vandalism.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/16/2014

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