Whorton caught at country club while on home detention

SPRINGDALE — Jeff Whorton, co- defendant of Northwest Arkansas developer Brandon Barber, was ordered this week to wear a monitoring collar during his home detention after the federal probation office learned he had been taking his daughter to a Springdale country club for golf lessons.

U. S. District Judge P. K. Holmes III signed the order Thursday, enacting a recommendation by the court’s probation office Whorton be monitored.

“The use of the GPS will allow the USPO to accurately monitor the defendant’s activities during authorized times away from his residence and exclude any golf courses in the area,” the recommendation said.

Whorton of Springdale was sentenced in November to 14 months home detention after he pleaded guilty in August 2013 to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering. He also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $100,000 restitution.

Court records showed he has paid the fine and restitution, and a satisfaction of judgment in his case was filed in April.

According to the probation office’s petition July 15 to modify Whorton’s probation conditions, the probation office received information July 1 that Whorton was at the

Springdale Country Club with his daughter and had been there about an hour.

The probation off ice contacted the country club and verified Whorton was on the driving range with his daughter, the petition said. A probation officer left a message at the country club for Whorton to call the probation office.

Whorton called the probation office, according to the petition, and admitted he took his daughter to the club for a golf lesson and while there was talking about business with a person he knew.

When asked, he told the officer he had been taking his daughter for golf lessons at times since June 1, dropping her off some times and staying a short while at other times to watch the lesson.

The petition said Whorton was instructed in November he was not to participate in his daughter’s golf activities off his property. The petition said Whorton was restricted to his home and couldn’t leave but for work, community service, religious services, medical care, education or training-programs, or other times specifically authorized.

Whorton was charged with Barber and Fayetteville developer Brandon Rains in a scheme with now- deceased real estate developer Gary Combs involving the sale of Whorton’s Executive Plaza property in Springdale.

In the scheme, according to court records, Whorton agreed to inflate the value of the Executive Plaza property to First Federal Bank, allowing Combs to borrow more money from the bank for the land’s purchase than its actual worth. The excess money, $ 550,000, was distributed as kickbacks to Combs, Barber and Rains.

Barber was sentenced to five years and five months in prison in November after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in the First Federal Bank loan case.

Rains pleaded guilty in 2013 to lying to federal agents and was fined $5,000.