Audit on governor’s $19,000 lectern to be released within next 10 days, lawmaker says

LITTLE ROCK — The cochairman of a legislative committee that ordered the audit of a $19,000 lectern bought for Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday he expects the report on the purchase to be released to the public within the next 10 days.

Republican Rep. Jimmy Gazaway said he and Republican Sen. David Wallace, who cochairs the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, received the report from auditors on Friday afternoon and are reviewing it. Gazaway said he wasn’t sure yet whether the report would be released to the committee beforehand, or if the panel would hold a hearing on it.

“As the chairs of the committee, we felt like it was important to review it before it’s released,” Gazaway said. “I think we have an obligation to ensure it’s in good form and good order, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Gazaway declined to comment on the report’s findings.

The committee last year approved the request to review the purchase of the lectern, which had drawn nationwide scrutiny over its costs and questions about public records surrounding it.

The 3 1/4-foot-tall (1-metertall) blue and wood-paneled lectern was bought in June with a state credit card for $19,029.25 from an events company in Virginia. The Republican Party of Arkansas reimbursed the state for the purchase on Sept. 14, and Sanders’ office has called the use of the state credit card an accounting error. Sanders’ office said it received the lectern in August.

Sanders, a Republican who served as press secretary for former President Donald Trump, has dismissed questions about the lectern as a “manufactured controversy,” and the item has not been seen at her public events.

The audit had been expected to be completed by the end of March. But the state’s legislative auditor last month said Sanders’ office had been given an extension to submit its response to the audit’s findings.

***

Mississippi woman arrested in Pope County on drug charges

See STATE, page A10

File photo STATE

From page A3

POPE COUNTY — According to an Arkansas State Police (ASP) press release, a Mississippi woman was arrested on Tuesday for trafficking fentanyl.

The press release said that a ASP trooper made a traffic stop on the woman’s vehicle traveling eastbound on I-40 near the 86-mile marker, and seized approximately half a pound of counterfeit hydrocodone pills containing fentanyl from the center console of the vehicle.

“Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous substance that has led to a significant increase in overdose-related deaths across this country,” ASP Colonel Mike Hagar said. “Our Troopers will continue to fight to keep this deadly substance out of our communities and uphold our primary duty to keep Arkansans safe.”

The driver of the vehicle, identified as Jasmine Charmaine Petty, 31, of Pittsboro, Mississippi, was taken into custody after a trooper stopped her vehicle for speeding and continuously driving in the left lane. She was booked into the Pope County Detention Center on felony charges for trafficking a controlled substance.

***

Mexico man sentenced to 135 months in jail for trafficking meth

LITTLE ROCK — A resident of Mexico has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Jonathan D. Ross announced the sentence of Gilberto Pedraza Contreras, which was handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky.

Rudofsky sentenced Contreras to 135 months imprisonment and five years supervised release to follow his prison sentence. Contreras faced a maximum sentence of not less than life in prison and not less than five years supervised release, and a fine of not more $10 million.

There is no parole in the federal system. On July 6, 2022, Contreras, 37, of Michoacan, Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute and one count of distribution and possession of a controlled substance. Last Oct. 30 Contreras pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

On June 15, 2022, agents conducted an operation targeting Contreras, who intended to distribute 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine to a confidential informant. When Contreras arrived at the location, agents blocked Contreras’s vehicle to minimize the chance of a vehicle pursuit.

After Contreras struck an agent’s vehicle with his vehicle, he was taken into custody. Agents located approximately 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in Contreras’ vehicle.

After the traffic stop, agents executed a search warrant at Contreras’ residence and located an additional 5 kilograms of methamphetamine. The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance of the Arkansas State Police and Little Rock Police Department.