State briefs
Drought conditions diminishing in Arkansas after rains
LITTLE ROCK — Drought conditions are diminishing in Arkansas after heavy rainfall throughout the state in the past week.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, which tracked conditions through Tuesday, finds that 37 percent of Arkansas is abnormally dry, while 7 percent is experiencing moderate drought conditions. About 62 percent of the state is experiencing no drought conditions.
A week ago, 71 percent of the state was considered abnormally dry, while 10 percent of the state was in moderate drought.
The National Weather Service says many parts of the state saw 2 to 5 inches of rain during the storms this week.
Arkansas mental health providers charged with Medicaid fraud
LITTLE ROCK — The two top billers in the Arkansas Medical Licensed Mental Health Practitioner Program have been charged with 20 felony counts involving false claims for Medicaid reimbursement.
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office announced the charges Thursday against Al Dodds, of Camden, and Joseph Brannon Randolph, of Fayetteville.
The two provide mental health services to people under 21 through the state program and billed about $1.3 million to Medicaid over three years, according the attorney general’s office.
Randolph has been charged with 11 counts related to Medicaid fraud and one count of failing to maintain records. Dodds was charged with seven felony counts of Medicaid fraud and one count of failing to maintain records.
Attorney information was not listed for either man in court records.
O’Malley holding fundraiser in Arkansas in December
LITTLE ROCK — Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley is holding a fundraiser in Arkansas next month, visiting rival Hillary Rodham Clinton’s adopted home turf.
The former Maryland governor is headlining a reception at a Little Rock home on Dec. 4, according to an invitation sent out Thursday. O’Malley is running for the Democratic nomination against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Clinton, who served 12 years as Arkansas’ first lady.
Clinton has already locked up support from the state’s top Democrats, with Arkansas’ five superdelegates planning to back her at next year’s convention.
O’Malley is the latest among several presidential hopefuls to visit Arkansas since lawmakers moved up the state’s primary from May to March 1, part of an effort to create a regional nominating contest among Southern states.
Man convicted in 2009 bombing sues Pulaski County jail
LITTLE ROCK — A former doctor convicted in a 2009 bombing that severely injured the Arkansas medical board’s chairman is suing the Pulaski County jail, its medical director and federal agents who arranged his pretrial detention, claiming he was given inadequate medical care while in jail.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Thursday that Randeep Mann accuses U.S. marshals and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in one lawsuit, and the jail and its medical director in another. Mann is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is also seeking changes to how federal agents manage their prisoners and how the Pulaski County jail handles inmate patient care.
Mann claims that his pain medication was deliberately cut off while detained at the Dallas County Jail and the shackles placed on his when he was transferred to the Pulaski County jail kept him from physical therapy.
According to former doctor, his health problems were never adequately addressed by the jail’s medical director.
Mann is serving a life sentence in an Indiana federal prison for the bombing outside Dr. Trent Pierce’s West Memphis home. Mann, who was the subject of a board investigation into his prescription practices at the time, was convicted in 2010 of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and other charges.
Pierce’s family was awarded $122.5 million in civil damages by a Crittenden County jury in March. Mann has appealed that decision.
James McCormack, clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, where the case was transferred to from Indiana, says he cannot comment on Mann’s lawsuit.
Capt. Carl Minden, a spokesman for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, says the office is aware of the lawsuit but cannot comment on pending litigation.
Doctor sentenced to 15 years in online child coercion case
FORT SMITH — A doctor who practiced family medicine in Arkansas and Missouri has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually enticing a child online.
Federal prosecutors announced the sentence Thursday for 69-year-old Donald Wayne Lamoureaux.
Investigators say Lamoureaux met an undercover officer online who was posing as an adult mother offering her 4-year-old daughter for sexual exploitation.
The doctor allegedly said he would like to meet the officer and the child for sex, and set up a meeting at a Missouri hotel in February.
Beforehand, he asked the officer to open a bank account so he could deposit money for the expenses of transporting the child.
Lamoureaux deposited $300 two days before the hotel meeting. He was arrested in West Plains, Missouri, after arriving at the meeting location.