Arkansas
Arkansas judge convicted of lying to feds about seeking sex with defendant’s girlfriend
A jury found Thomas David Carruth guilty of making false statements to the FBI about using his position to seek sexual favors from a woman whose boyfriend had a case before the Monroe County District.
Wilson County jailer arrested for misconduct
Former Wilson County corrections officer Melissa Dionne faces charges of sexual contact with an inmate and official misconduct.
A former Arkansas judge was found guilty of lying to federal investigators about trying to extort a defendant’s girlfriend for sex or a “lingerie show,” the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
A jury found Thomas David Carruth guilty of making false statements to the FBI about using his position to seek sexual favors from a woman whose boyfriend had a case before the Monroe County District Court elected judge. The woman secretly recorded the judge’s comments and turned the tape over to the FBI.
The woman Carruth failed to extort recorded his not-so-subtle solicitations and shared them with law enforcement, according to a federal indictment in the Eastern District of Arkansas.
“I got one area I want to explore with you,” Carruth tells her in the recording when discussing how to help her boyfriend with his case according to the indictment, “and I don’t know how you’re gonna react. Um… how do you feel about sex?”
The recording stands in stark contrast to the former judge’s statements to the FBI that he didn’t “even [think] about” sex with the woman.
The former judge already had a tainted record: The Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission admonished Carruth in 2018 for creating the appearance of impropriety after an inquiry into allegations similar to those of the woman who recorded Carruth asking her for sex.
Carruth faces a maximum of five years in prison for the charge. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. The 64-year-old was acquitted of charges of bribery, honest services fraud, and violations of the Travel Act, according to the Justice Department.
He was first arrested and charged in January 2023, officials said. Carruth resigned sometime after the FBI raided his house in June 2023, according to reporting by The Monroe County Argus.
Jeffrey M. Rosenzweig, Carruth’s attorney, thanked the jury in response to a request for comment.
“We are grateful for the jury’s wisdom in seeing through the duplicative and tenuous charges that the government chose to bring,” Rosenzweig said. “We recognize that the jury thought through the decision to convict on the one charge, although we respectfully disagree with the result they reached.”
‘Do you have any nice lingerie?’
The 28-minute phone recording on April 18, 2022, of the woman’s conversation with the judge shows a matter-of-fact approach to sexual extortion.
She had approached him about a separate issue when he offered to help with her boyfriend’s criminal case, according to an indictment.
The man was hoping for an early trial date to make sure he didn’t violate a parole order and Carruth offered to oblige if he got something in return.
“I’d prefer not [to] have to in order to get this done,” the woman told the judge when he broached the topic of sex, court papers say.
“”The next step back,” he said on the recording, “is… do you have any nice lingerie?”
Carruth persisted when she refused to give a “lingerie show”: “What you’re buying is we’re going to try to shorten those timeframes,” he said, referring to the man’s trial, according to court documents.
She shared the tape with law enforcement and when contacted by the FBI, Carruth flatly denied seeking sex with the woman, saying he didn’t “even [think] about” sex with her, the Justice Department said.
Tainted record
Carruth’s dealings with women have been suspect since shortly after he was first elected to the post in 2012.
Less than 10,000 people live in Monroe County, a rural jurisdiction about 90 miles east of Little Rock, and in such small towns it’s not uncommon for people with business at the courthouse to approach the judge, the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission wrote in its 2018 admonishment of Carruth.
Under the small town circumstances, the commission expects judges to be particularly vigilant to avoid discussing court business inappropriately but Carruth was accused of doing so for years, the commission wrote.
The admonishment does not detail the extrajudicial discussions but according to the federal indictment they involved seeking sex from women who had cases before him.
Carruth denied the allegations but the commission admonished him for conduct that allowed such a cloud of suspicion to arise in the first place.
“Even assuming the truth of your assertion, the number, times and circumstances of your contacts created an appearance of impropriety,” the commission wrote. “The judiciary cannot exist without the trust and confidence of the people. The confidence is maintained when judges endeavor to follow the Code of Judicial Conduct while they remain faithful to the law.”
The commission decided not to sanction Carruth beyond making the admonishment public.
No rain in Thursday’s forecast.
The chance of rain will return on Friday, but the chance is going to be very low Friday through Sunday.
Then the chance really picks up early next week as a front approaches. Stronger to severe storms are going to be possible Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
JONESBORO – Staff members at Arkansas State University were honored for their retirement
and milestone accomplishments during the annual Distinguished Performance Awards and
Service Recognition Ceremony in Centennial Hall of Reng Student Union on Monday, May
11.
Those who have or will retire during the current academic year include Malissa Davis,
Ellis Library, 35 years; Jimmy Crocker, Facilities Management, 28 years; Anna Warren,
Childhood Services, 19 years; Cameron Martin, Facilities Management, 14 years; Barbara
Bland, Childhood Services, 14 years; Charlotte Booker, Information Technology Services,
12 years; Mary E. Williams, College of Nursing and Health Professions, 11 years; and
Joe Boon, Facilities Management, 9 years.
Honored for 45 years of service was Sharon Lee, director of community engagement and
outreach for the office of Access and Accommodation Services.
Honored for 40 years of service was Sharon McDaniel, records management supervisor
for the Registrar’s Office.
Those honored for 35 years of service include:
Phillip Ladd, project manager in Construction Services, and Russ Hannah, vice chancellor
for Finance and Administration.
Those honored for 30 years of service include:
Natalie Turney, administrative assistant in the Department of English, Philosophy
and World Languages and Cheryl Richey, custodial coordinator in Facilities Management.
Those honored for 25 years of service include:
Woodie Sue Herlein, out-of-school time projects coordinator in Childhood Services;
Diana Courson, assistant director of Childhood Services; Laura Miller, director of
Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center; Mia Sheppard-Taylor, director
of Custodial Services; Eric Barnett, core network engineer and wireless administrator
of Information Technology Services; Clay Hurn, Mail Center; and Sharon Rye, hardware
engineer in Information Technology Services.
Those honored for 20 years of service include:
April Morris, Michael Glover, Mary Melton, Grady Clark, Amber Long Martin, Kayann
Brown, Dwain Roberts, Randy Wheaton, Amber Jones, Melissa Jackson, Cheryl Wright,
Christy Brinkley, and Jimmy Rousseau.
Those honored for 15 years of service include:
Ronnie Gilley, Christina Kostick, Carol Caldwell, Michael Bradley, Mark Freier, Shea
Harris, Thomas Wilson, Chris Boothman, Lora Gibson, Cary Estes, Stephanie Gibson,
Jesse Blankenship, Violeta Lugo, Alyssa Wells, Marsha Carwell, Vickie Gilmer, Edward
Haff, and Alexis Hurdle Besharse.
Those honored for 10 years of service include:
Michael Hagen, Tammy Daffron, Terri Teters, Mollie Menton-Ipsen, Dale McClelland,
Taylor Carpenter, Anne Merten, Avis Turner, Benjamin Housewright, Dallas Reece, Brandon
Tabor, Tia Caldwell, Tara Thomason, Petree Buford, Robert Davenport, Cathy Naylor,
Shannon Williams, Jackie Cox, Frazier Dixon, Devin Nelson, and Michelle White.
Those honored for five years of service include:
Jeri Knight, Josh Rogers, Taylor Shannon, Fen Yu, Deloris Holley, Penny Toombs, Greg
Umhoefer, Sasha Jones, Brittany Stokes, Stephanie Stanley, Caleb Lawson, Raven Person,
Maria Bedwell, Michael Bledsoe, Judith Poole, Suzette Hinkle, Leigh Ann Crain, Bryce
Moore, Andrew Shoffner, Lyle Jones, Derrick Lett, Ben Kutylo, Autumn Anderson, Stanley
Broadaway, Michael Alexander, Jennifer Keys, Julie Yarberry, Shauna Baker, Melissa
Dooley, Paula Kelley, Taylor Simmermon, Craig Estes, Kyle Ford, Fady Fara, Sylvia
Zavala Brandon, Nicholas Wallis, Olivia Clark, and JD Stallings.
Honorees from five years of service through 20 years received a certificate and a
pin. Those celebrating 25 years and up received a plaque in recognition of their dedication
to A-State.
Anya Lynch (left), a Farmington High School student, fields the ball with the help of Riley Sundquist, Farmington Junior High School student on Wednesday, May 6, during the Special Olympics Arkansas Area 3-Farmington softball skills and competition event at the Farmington Sports Complex. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Caleb Grieger)
Anya Lynch (left), a Farmington High School student, fields the ball with the help of Riley Sundquist, Farmington Junior High School student on Wednesday, May 6, during the Special Olympics Arkansas Area 3-Farmington softball skills and competition event at the Farmington Sports Complex. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Caleb Grieger)
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