Theft from agency draws guilty plea

An Arkansas woman accused of receiving unauthorized or undocumented payments from Yell County’s emergency-services agency has pleaded guilty, authorities said.

The state attorney general’s office said Friday that Donna Ward, a former employee of Yell County Emergency Medical Services, must pay $250,000 in restitution, of which she has already paid $100,000.

Ward, 44, reportedly received a 20-year prison term, but all but six months of that is suspended. The six months will be served at the Arkansas Community Correction’s facility in Fayetteville.

The Belleville woman pleaded guilty to health care fraud and property theft for stealing money from the agency and submitting false claims to Medicare and Medicaid, the release said.

“Donna Ward and her husband stole from a vital Arkansas program,” Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said in a news release. “Stealing money from the service and from Medicare and Medicaid will not be tolerated in Arkansas.”

Ward’s husband, Sidney Ward, was the agency’s director while Donna Ward kept the books. In 2016, Arkansas Legislative Audit revealed that the couple had received more than $680,000 in overpayments, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.

Sidney Ward is scheduled to go on trial June 11, records show.