Lunacy and hypocrisy

Lunacy and hypocrisy is the only thing that can be said about why charges are not being sought against Sheriff Montgomery and his administrative staff. It kind of reminds me of the theme from the Dukes of Hazard expect for a few changes. Instead of "been in trouble with the law since the day they were born" it would be "been breaking the law since the day they took office". But from the latest report from KTHV it would seem that the media is trying to sell us the line "just good ole boys, never meaning no harm", I for one am not buying it.

In the follow up report by reporter Todd Wilson, who incidentally would not respond to my emails, Sheriff Marty Montgomery is quoted saying, "I have not violated any state law or policy. I've operated like this for nine years, and I don't understand why now it isn't okay." Montgomery readily admits to doing the very kinds of things that has caused this issue for the entirety of his time in office.

And if that wasn’t enough Kim Williams of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee blames much of problems on a lack of policy. And says that can't be blamed on Sheriff Marty Montgomery, but rather on the county quorum court for not setting a policy. That is simply ludicrous, the Quorum Court sets the budget and each department head is responsible for how that money is distributed. That logic would be equivalent to a person getting a loan for a new home and then buying a car instead, would the bank be responsible?

Now we all know that what Montgomery is accused of is morally and ethically wrong but what does the law really say about this. The elements of theft of property are set forth in A.C.A. § 5-36-103 and say that a person commits theft of property if he knowingly takes or exercises unauthorized control over, or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest in, the property of another person. I cannot see how this does not fit this situation.

In the Supreme Court of Arkansas Opinion delivered May 13, 1999, Brian Alan HODGES v. Jody LAMORA, Myron Lamora, Gary Grimes, and Jim Rush (99-47 S.W.2d) the justices say the taxpayers are the equitable owners of all funds collected by a government and, in most of the cases, are liable to replenish the funds exhausted by a misapplication or wrongful payment. So when the Montgomery took family members and friends to those conferences and used our money to fund it, he stole our property. The Quorum Court and the people of Faulkner County did not give him the authority to use these funds for that purpose so therefore according to the law this is an unauthorized use and constitutes theft.

Another element of the crime that must be decided is did Montgomery know this was an unauthorized payment? In criminal cases ignorance of the law is not a defense that can be used by an offender and the courts have routinely ruled that if a person should have reasonably known that his act was against the law then it meets the requirements of a knowing act. So according to the law not only did Montgomery steal my and your money by taking friends and family on business trips we paid for but he knew it was wrong and should be charged with the crimes he has committed.

The hypocrisy of it all is the most disturbing thing about this. Right now there are probably people in jail or are going to jail for the same crime but Sheriff Marty Montgomery is above the law and does not have to share the same fate. The only question that remains is are we going to sit back and do nothing about it? Or are we going to make our anger known by removing these "good ole boys" from office.

We should all call our JPs and demand a state police investigation to look into not only how much money has been misspent over to past nine years but also look into charges of theft and fraud. Tell your JP we want our money back and an example made so that future acts of theft and fraud might be adverted.