Former Missouri healthcare executives sentenced in Arkansas for roles in bribery, embezzlement scheme

Kyler Swaim
·3 min read
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Two former executives of a charity based in Springfield, Mo. have been sentenced for their roles in a multimillion-dollar scheme that involved bribes paid to multiple elected public officials in Arkansas and embezzlement.

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bontiea Bernedette Goss, 65, was sentenced on April 29 to three years in prison. Her husband, Tommy “Tom” Ray Goss, 68, was sentenced to six years on April 26. They were also ordered to pay $4.35 million in forfeiture and restitution.

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Court documents showed Bontiea and Tom Goss were the former chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Preferred Family Healthcare Inc., a charity that provided a variety of services to individuals in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois.

Some of the services the charity offered included substance abuse treatment and counseling, employment assistance, aid to individuals with developmental disabilities, mental and behavioral health treatment and counseling, and medical services, according to the release.

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Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay bribes and kickbacks to elected officials in Arkansas in September 2022. Tom also pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy by embezzling funds from the charity and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return.

The charity agreed to pay more than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution in 2022 to the federal government and the state of Arkansas under the terms of a nonprosecution agreement.

These former executives of the charity, former Arkansas state legislature members and others have pleaded guilty in federal court as part of the years-long, multi-jurisdiction federal investigation:

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  • Former CEO Marilyn Luann Nolan, from Springfield, Mo., pleaded guilty in November 2018 to her role in a conspiracy to misapply and embezzle funds from a charity that received federal funds.

  • Former Director of Operations and Executive Vice President Robin Raveendran, of Little Rock, Ark., pleaded guilty in June 2019 to conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.

  • Former Executive and Head of Clinical Operations Keith Fraser Noble, of Rogersville, Mo., pleaded guilty in September 2019 to concealment of a known felony.

  • Former employee and Head of Operations and Lobbying in Arkansas Milton “Rusty” Russell Cranford, of Rogers, Ark., was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of federal program bribery.

  • Political consultant Donald Andrew Jones, or D.A. Jones, of Willingboro, N.J., pleaded guilty in December 2017 to his role in a conspiracy from April 2011 to January 2017 to steal from an organization that receives federal funds.

  • Former Arkansas Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, of Little Rock, under a global plea agreement, pleaded guilty on June 25, 2019, to filing a false tax return and an information filed in the Western District of Arkansas to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. He pleaded guilty in the Western District of Missouri on July 8, 2019, to conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. Hutchinson was sentenced to eight years in prison.

  • Former Arkansas State Rep. Eddie Wayne Cooper, of Melbourne, Ark., pleaded guilty in February 2018 to conspiracy to embezzle more than $4 million from Preferred Family Healthcare.

  • Former Arkansas State Sen. and State Rep. Henry “Hank” Wilkins IV pleaded guilty on April 30, 2018, 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. Wilkins was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

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The DOJ says the cases were investigated by IRS-CI, FBI, and the Offices of the Inspectors General from the Departments of Justice and Departments of Labor, and FDIC.

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