Ex- Monticello mayor pleads guilty to misdemeanor count.

The former Monticello mayor who resigned in January pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of abuse of power.

Drew County Circuit Judge Bynum Gibson verbally accepted Zack Tucker’s plea but is waiting until he determines how much Tucker owes the city in restitution before he signs an order, Circuit Clerk Beverly Burks said.

Tucker served as mayor for just more than two years. He was charged in September with tampering with public records, a felony, and misdemeanor abuse of power after an Arkansas State Police investigation into a $ 22,500 check from the city’s advertising and promotion commission that was signed by Tucker in April 2015 but not authorized by the commission.

The investigation found that Tucker had wrongfully used the money for the 2015 Arkansas Forest Festival of which Tucker is chairman. Tucker had been moving money around to cover debts associated with the festival, the investigation found.

Tucker was elected in 2014, at the age of 25, and earned $ 63,603.80 annually. His term was set to expire in 2019, but he resigned Jan. 17 as he sought a plea deal with prosecutors.

Tucker, who now works for the Southeast Arkansas Regional Library, accepted a plea deal offered by Drew County Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Deen, pleading guilty to abuse of power. As a part of the deal, prosecutors dropped the felony charge of tampering with a public record. Tucker’s 90day jail sentence was suspended, meaning he won’t go to jail.

The state sought the plea deal “in order to obtain his prompt resignation and obtain his repayment of $ 22,500 to the city,” Deen said.

Tucker’s attorney, Hani Hashem, has requested that Gibson give Tucker about $ 8,500 credit because Tucker had spent about that much on other festival expenses for which he had been expecting reimbursement. Loans intended for the repayment, however, never came through.

Hashem said Tucker wrote four personal checks for the festival for T- shirts, beauty pageant winners’ national contest entry fees, tiaras for the beauty pageant and advertising in the local newspaper.

“What we’re contending is that the $ 8,500 — again, not an exact number — that’s money he spent out of his back pocket that went toward public good for the city of Monticello to make this Forest Festival a success,” Hashem said.

Hashem said he doubted the Forest Festival earned much of a profit, if any, to reimburse Tucker.

Gibson asked Tucker to provide proof that he had repaid the roughly $ 8,500 in charges with his credit card, Burks said.

Gibson is expected to rule within a week, Deen said. The state opposes any reduction of the $ 22,500, Deen said.

“The city did not authorize the mayor’s personal expenditures for the festival any more than they authorized his use of the tax money for the festival,” Deen said. “Therefore, he’s not entitled to the set- off.”