Former Missouri Charity Executives Plead Guilty in Widespread Fraud Case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) logo is pictured on a wall in New York on Dec. 5, 2013. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Two former Missouri-based non-profit executives pleaded guilty Thursday to their roles in a multimillion-dollar public scheme that involved embezzlement and bribing Arkansas elected officials, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Bontiea Bernedette Goss, 63, and her husband, Tommy Ray Goss, 66, received favorable legislative and official actions in return for bribes and kickbacks they, and other co-conspirators, offered and paid to elected officials in Arkansas over many years.

Federal prosecutors said one of the schemes involved elected officials directing funds from the state’s General Improvement Fund to their charity, Preferred Family Healthcare Inc., which provided services to people in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois.

Their charity provided mental and behavioral health treatment and counseling, substance abuse treatment and counseling, employment assistance, medical services, and aid to people with developmental disabilities. The majority of the non-profit’s funding comes from federally appropriated funds—mostly via Medicaid reimbursement, the DOJ has said.

The couple must forfeit to the government up to $4.3 million under the terms of their respective plea agreements, as determined by the court at their sentencing, according to the DOJ.

“Bontiea Goss pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay bribes and kickbacks to elected public officials in Arkansas,” the DOJ said in a statement. “Tom Goss pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy by embezzling funds from the charity, as well as by paying bribes and kickbacks to elected public officials in Arkansas.”

Tom Goss also pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return.

The pair face prison terms without parole. A federal district court judge will hand down their sentences after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Bontiea Goss could go away for up to five years while her husband faces up to eight years in federal prison. It is unclear what consequences the elected officials involved in the scheme are facing.

Charity Pays $8 Million Back

The DOJ in May said the Gosses’ non-profit, Preferred Family Healthcare, was ordered to pay more than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution to the federal government and the state of Arkansas under the terms of a non-prosecution agreement that acknowledges the criminal conduct of its former officers and employees.

U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore for the Eastern District of Missouri said at the time that several former officers and employees were being prosecuted in separate criminal cases for their individual criminal conduct.

“This non-prosecution agreement holds the charity itself responsible for their actions as agents of the charity,” she said in a statement. “Public tax dollars were stolen and misused in the course of this public corruption scheme, and through this agreement and these separate prosecutions, those dollars are being restored to the public coffers.”

Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher of IRS-Criminal Investigation said the employees and officials used the charity to redirect funds meant to help people to instead “illegally line their own pockets through fraud and bribery.”

“The public should not suffer or be responsible for individuals who abuse their leadership positions out of greed for personal financial gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Charles Dayoub of the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office.

Elected Officials Entangled

At least three former Arkansas elected officials caught up in the scheme who pleaded guilty for their roles between 2018 and 2019 have not yet had sentencing hearings scheduled, the DOJ said in May.

Former Little Rock, Arkansas, state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson pleaded guilty in June 2019 to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery.

Hutchinson, who is the nephew of Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.), used to be a state senator and representative before he resigned after facing federal charges in more than one criminal misconduct case.

Eddie Wayne Cooper, who served three terms as a Democratic state representative from Melbourne, Arkansas, pleaded guilty in February 2018 to conspiracy to embezzle more than $4 million from the non-profit.

He waived his right to a grand jury and admitted to receiving at least $387,501 from a lobbying firm and at least $63,000 in kickbacks as a result of his participation in the conspiracy.

Cooper was a state lawmaker from 2006 until he became a lobbyist in January 2011. He took a full-time position as regional director for Preferred Family Healthcare in 2009 and served on its board of directors until 2015 while working as a lobbyist.

Former lawmaker Hank Wilkins IV also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and devising a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive the citizens of the state of Arkansas of their right to honest services.

According to court documents, the conspirators engaged in multiple schemes to unlawfully use the charity’s funds to make political contributions, for excessive and unreported lobbying and political advocacy, and to unjustly enrich themselves, the DOJ said.