Ex-Treasurer Martha Shoffner sentenced to 30 months

Former Arkansas State Treasurer Martha Shoffner walks to federal court in Little Rock Friday, Aug. 28, 2015.
Former Arkansas State Treasurer Martha Shoffner walks to federal court in Little Rock Friday, Aug. 28, 2015.

Former state Treasurer Martha Shoffner was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison after being convicted on federal bribery and extortion charges.

U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes imposed the sentence after hearing disputes from Shoffner’s attorney and prosecutors over the pre-sentence report.

Shoffner’s attorney Chuck Banks objected to figures used in pre-sentence calculations, saying that the amount of bribes was not accurate.

“One agreement with multiple payments does not constitute multiple bribes,” he said.

Shoffner, a 71-year-old Newport resident, admitted to receiving $36,000 from bond broker Steele Stephens in $6,000 increments, sometimes concealed in a pie box, which she used to cover rent payments for her Little Rock apartment. She received the payments over three years in return for directing state bond business to him.

Banks’ concerns over the report were overruled.

After Holmes handed down the sentence, Banks asked if it could be split, with part of the time served in a halfway house or doing community service.

Holmes said he wouldn’t be "doing her any favors" by sending her to a halfway house, saying that conditions at a halfway house would not be ideal for a woman her age and that a prison facility would be better equipped to house her.

Banks called the public "vilification" of Shoffner “unique and unprecedented.” He said she has been an exemplary citizen and public official with no criminal history but was “naive and gullible” and made a mistake.

Shoffner resigned in May 2013, days after FBI agents arrested her in a sting operation at her home.

Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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