Northwest MO Info Northwest Mo Info Logo

Former Arkansas Lawmaker Sentenced for Bribery Case Involving Preferred Family Healthcare

April 27, 2023 9:01AM CDT
Share
Former Arkansas Lawmaker Sentenced for Bribery Case Involving Preferred Family Healthcare
FILE – Arkansas state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Benton, speaks at a legislative subcommittee meeting at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 18, 2015. Federal prosecutors said Wednesday, April 26, 2023, that the former Arkansas state senator has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison for accepting multiple bribes in Missouri. The U.S. Department of Justice in a news release said Hutchinson was sentenced Tuesday, April 25, on a charge of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)

KANSAS CITY, MO – A former Arkansas state senator will spend eight years in prison for accepting multiple bribes in Missouri.

Jeremy Hutchinson was sentenced in federal court in Kansas City Tuesday for conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. The 50-month sentence handed down will run after his previous sentence of 3 years and 10 months for similar convictions in Arkansas.

Hutchinson admitted that he was hired as outside counsel for Preferred Family Healthcare while he was a senator, and took action in the Arkansas Legislature to hold up agency budgets, initiate legislative audits, sponsored and voted for legislation that would benefit the organization.

In return Preferred Family Healthcare paid Hutchinson more than $350,000 in charity funds and transferred other benefits. In 2022, Preferred Family Healthcare agreed to pay more than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution to the federal government and the state of Arkansas.

Preferred Family Healthcare is based in Springfield, and operates in several communities includes Brookfield and Trenton.