The shenanigans of former executives of a nonprofit health care company who bribed an Arkansas lawmaker have caused ripples in Jefferson City.
At least one of the executives from Preferred Family Healthcare admitted to bribing former Arkansas state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson.
Robin Raveendran pleaded guilty to a charge that he conspired with other PFH executives Milton Russell “Rusty” Cranford and Tom and Bontiea Goss (a married couple) to pay Hutchinson more than $35,000 from 2014-16 to influence state policy, according to the Associated Press. The payments happened when all the executives operated a Springfield health care company called Alternate Opportunities and as it merged with PFH. The merger helped make PFH one of the largest mental health providers in Arkansas.
Preferred Family leadership was unaware of the federal investigation into corruption of the Alternate Opportunities executives as the merger was ongoing, according to Julie Heavrin, director of communications for the Kirksville-based nonprofit.
“Preferred Family Health has been terribly abused by the actions of its former leadership,” she wrote in an email to the News Tribune. “Prior to its merger … (PFH) was a highly respected provider of community-based behavioral health services.”
In return for the cash, Hutchinson, a nephew of Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, passed or blocked legislation to benefit Alternate Opportunities and PFH, according to the Associated Press.
The money was from a lobbying group Raveendran and the other defendant executives created. None are listed as lobbyists on the Missouri Ethics Commission website.
Raveendran entered the plea, and a judge accepted it June 12. He faces up to five years in federal prison without parole, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and up to $25,000 in restitution.
PFH, which no longer does business in Arkansas, provides mental and behavioral health services, including substance abuse disorder treatment and services to children, adolescents and adults throughout Missouri, according to Debra Walker, acting deputy director and director of public and legislative affairs for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. It also provides individualized, community-based services to citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities, she said in an email to the News Tribune.
“(The Department of Mental Health) has the utmost confidence in the leadership and quality of services and treatment provided to Missouri citizens by Preferred Family Healthcare,” she said. “DMH has had a successful, longstanding contractual relationship with Preferred Family Healthcare since the 1980s. The Missouri leadership team that DMH works with is not part of the group that faced legal issues in Arkansas.”
Preferred Family Healthcare is focusing on the future, Heavrin said. The company will continue to cooperate with authorities through the process to bring people who have harmed the company to justice.
More federal court hearings on the matter are scheduled for July 8 in Springfield.
The support from partners in Missouri, such as Department of Mental Health, state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Mo HealthNet and others has been appreciated, Heavrin said.
“Their confidence level in PFH has not wavered as a result of the misdeeds of some of the executives and employees associated with Alternative Opportunities,” she said. “We will continue to demonstrate transparency on these matters and stand behind the valued services we provide to those in our communities who need us the most.”