Jonathan Earl Woods, known as Jon Woods (born August 23, 1977, in Charlotte, North Carolina), is a Republican and a former member of both houses of the Arkansas General Assembly, a record producer, as well as a musician. He is now in federal prison for political corruption, wire and mail fraud, and money laundering.[1]
During Woods' junior year at Siloam Springs High School, he attended Arkansas Boys State. While in high school, Jon played football and basketball, but chose soccer rather than track. Several of the high school soccer team players were musicians, who inspired Woods to pick up the guitar more seriously. He also took private vocal lessons at John Brown University. During this time, fellow basketball and soccer player, musician, and close friend Tim Berry died in a car accident at the age of sixteen. Years later, Tim would be the inspiration for the band name, A Good Fight, named for the verse in II Timothy 4:7. During his high school and college years, Woods lifeguarded at the Siloam Springs municipal pool and Dawn Hill Country Club, where he also taught private swimming lessons. Upon graduation in 1996, Woods attended Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. He obtained two degrees, an Associate of Arts and an Associate of Science in Business.
He continued his education at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and served in the Associated Student Government Senate. He was elected chairman of the College Republicans and stayed involved with the Republican committees of Benton and Washington counties. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, Alpha Zeta chapter and was a member of the intramural soccer team for the fraternity. While at the University, Jon completed an internship at the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, at which he helped small businesses develop through market research and business development. During this time, his non-college activities included taking private drum, guitar and bass lessons. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing Management from the Sam Walton College of Business at UA-Fayetteville in 2002.
After graduation, Woods took a job in commercial banking in Benton and Washington counties. He co-founded the pop rock band A Good Fight, in 2004, and in 2006, at the age of twenty-nine, was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives and was sworn in on January 8, 2007 as the youngest member of the Arkansas 86th General Assembly.
Music Background
Growing up in the Arkansas Delta, Woods and his brother, Dustin, were heavily influenced by the Memphis Music Scene and events held on Mud Island during the 1980s and early 1990s.
In 1993, after the family relocated from the Delta to Siloam Springs, Dustin Woods began to practice the guitar and was named most talented his senior year, 1997, at Siloam Springs High School. Dustin Woods had two bands in high school, and both performed in talent shows in his junior and senior years. Because of Jon Woods' interest in politics and sports, he was not as devoted to music as his brother during his high school years.
In 2004, Jon and Dustin Woods and Sean Marriott formed A Good Fight. After a two-year period with thirty auditions, the Woods' and Merriott agreed to select Eddie Love as lead vocalist in 2006. The band released two albums, The City Could Be Ours By Morning in 2008 and self-titled album A Good Fight in 2010. Both albums had songs featured on several reality shows on MTV and Sony PlayStation'sMLB 13: The Show. In a short period of time the band performed at several large venues such as the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.[3]
While in the legislature in 2009, Woods supported HB1837, Act 497, by J. R. Rogers of Walnut Ridge. This Act designated a portion of Highway 67 in Northeastern Arkansas to be called "Rock 'N' Roll Highway". Some of the legendary musicians who regularly traveled on this stretch of highway during the 1950s and 1960s included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, Fats Domino, and Sonny Burgess. The goal of this legislation was to honor Arkansas' Rock 'N' Roll heritage, and to boost tourism and economic development for the region.[4] Woods also advocated, although unsuccessfully, for moving the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame from the Pine Bluff Convention Center to the River Market District in Little Rock so that the hall of fame would gain more exposure. The hall of fame houses personal possessions and items of Arkansas musicians and celebrities.[5]
In 2011, Woods produced The Plaid Jackets first album The New Adventures of the Plaid Jackets Vol 1, which featured the international hit "Adam West is Batman". This song is featured on the documentary, Starring Adam West.[6][7][8][9]
Political career
Woods served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013 and in the Arkansas Senate from 2013 to 2017. During his legislative career, he sponsored 103 bills that became law, pushed for the establishment of nearly a dozen task forces and commissions, and passed four constitutional amendments. Restricted by term limits that then allowed only three terms in the state House of Representatives, Woods decided to run for the Arkansas State Senate for District 7, which includes most of Springdale, Tontitown, Goshen, Elkins, Durham and parts of Fayetteville and all of eastern Washington County.[10] In 2012, Woods was elected to the Arkansas State Senate. In 2015, Woods received an award from the American Red Cross for performing life saving CPR on a visitor to the Arkansas State Capitol.[11][12][13]
Arkansas House of Representatives 2007-2013
2007-2009 86th General Assembly
During his first term he showed his ability to bring people of differing points of view together by making Arkansas' first Umbilical Cord Blood Bank a reality. This institution harvests primitive stem cells from umbilical cords,[14] helping advance stem cell research without abandoning his pro-life convictions. Along with Senator Johnny Key, Woods was awarded the Invest in Life award for his work on the project.[15][16]
2009-2011 87th General Assembly
In his second term during the 87th General Assembly in 2009, he became the chair of the technology committee,[17] an unheard of feat for a second term member from the minority party. He sponsored legislation that helped amend the Arkansas State Constitution granting the citizens of Arkansas the right to hunt, fish, trap, and harvest wildlife.[18] It was referred to the voters in 2010 where it passed with 612,495 votes or 82.78% of the vote with 127,444 or 17.22% voting against.[19]
2011-2013 88th General Assembly
In his third and final term in the Arkansas House of Representatives in the 88th General Assembly in 2011, Woods took on sex offenders, increasing the penalties for sex crimes[20] and expanding notification to the public about sex offenders living in their neighborhoods.[21] He also sponsored legislation to create the Office of Health Information Technology to implement electronic health records in Arkansas[22] and co-sponsored legislation to create a state sales tax holiday weekend for families to buy school supplies.[23]
Arkansas State Senate 2013-2017
2013-2015 89th General Assembly
Woods served on the Senate Insurance and Commerce, Joint Performance Review, Public Retirement & Social Security Programs, and Judiciary committees as well as the Arkansas Legislative Council.[24] Woods sponsored Carter's Law in 2013, creating a comprehensive program of education regarding shaken baby syndrome.[25]
2015-2017 90th General Assembly
In the 90th General Assembly Woods earned the highest civilian recognition from the Arkansas National Guard, and referred his third and fourth ballot measures to the voters.[26]
Woods Endorses Trump
Former State Senator Jon Woods was the only elected official in the entire state of Arkansas to publicly endorse Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. A large number of other Arkansas lawmakers held a press conference to endorse Trump’s rival, Marco Rubio, for president.[27]
Marco Rubio’s State Chairman, State Sen. Bart Hester (R-Cave Springs) stated, “I can’t sit here and say I’m willing to vote for Donald Trump at this time. He just doesn’t share the values that I share,” Hester said of Trump.[28]
Out of 101 elected republican legislators, constitutional officers, and members of Congress, Woods was the only one to publicly endorse Donald Trump in the 2016 Arkansas Republican presidential primary.[29]
Statement from the Trump campaign:
Senator Woods had this to say about Mr. Trump, “I support Donald Trump for the 2016 Republican Presidential bid of the United States of America. Donald Trump is a Christian Conservative who is strongly pro-life, understands the importance of the 2nd amendment, supports a limited government, is anti new taxes and loves his family and country deeply. I believe Donald Trump’s leadership as President of the United States will Make America Great Again.”
We are honored to have the support and endorsement of Senator Woods.[30]
Political Investigations
Dismissed complaint
In March 2016, Jeff Oland of Farmington, Arkansas filed a complaint with the Arkansas Ethics Commission against then State Senator Jon Woods.[31] Oland accused then State Senator Jon Woods of coordinating mailers from his previous 2012-election campaign with a conservative organization called Conservative Arkansas PAC. Oland's complaint triggered an investigation by the Arkansas Ethics Commission. After more than a dozen interviews and reviewing all the evidence, the Ethics Commission determined that there had been no violations and no laws broken. In May 2016, the Ethics Commission voted 3-0 to dismiss Mr. Oland's complaint against Woods.[32]
On March 1, 2017, Woods was found guilty of fifteen federal counts for his collusion in a kickback scheme involving Oren Paris, III, the president of Ecclesia College in Springdale, Arkansas, where Woods resides. Others indicted were Randell Shelton, Jr., of Alma in Crawford County, Arkansas, and Micah Neal, a former state representative who pleaded guilty to one act of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.[33][34][35][36] The trial was controversial due in part to the actions of the lead FBI agent, Robert Cessario, who pleaded guilty in a plea agreement on August 17, 2022, to destroying exculpatory evidence.[37][38] March 1, 2017, Woods was indicted for his alleged collusion in a kickback scheme involving Oren Paris, III, president of Ecclesia College (a Christian college), and Randell Shelton, Jr. Woods' attorney, Patrick Benca, denied the allegations.[39][40]
One of the many trial delays was due to the destruction of evidence by FBI agent Robert Cessario. According to his own court testimony, Cessario wiped his undercover computer clean on three separate occasions since the investigation began.[41][42][43] He had it wiped once professionally at Ozark Computer Works in Bentonville, AR for $59.50 in cash on Dec. 4, 2017.[44] He then wiped it at least twice more himself.[45][46] In December, 2017 he was removed from the case and was put under investigation by the Office of Inspector General, according to court documents, and faced criminal prosecution.[47]
FBI computer wipe
Two days of pretrial hearings, January 25 and 26, 2018, laid out in detail the circumstances under which the FBI (Cessario's) computer was used to collect copies of the audio files recorded covertly by former State Representative Micah Neal.[48] Mr. Neal has denied that the government asked him to conduct the undercover audio recordings and testified that the "pen" used as the recording device was his idea.[49] However, the FBI agent improperly wiped his laptop sometime in early 2017, December 4, 2017 and then wiped it again December 7, 2017. The erasing of the files cast doubt on whether a true copy of all the files was ever provided to the defense or if the FBI had in fact requested Micah Neal conduct the recordings.[50] Thirty nine audio recordings were provided to the defense in April, 2017. Gaps in the timeline of the recordings were discovered by the defense, which led them to request that the U.S. Attorney turn over ALL of the audio recordings. This request resulted in the U.S. Attorney finding an additional 79 audio recordings in November 2017.[51] These audios contained recordings of many different people.[52] The words Mr. Neal himself used in these recordings is possibly evidence that he was actually doing the recordings on behalf of the government.[53] Upon cross examination of why FBI agent Robert Cessario wiped his laptop, the agent said it was because the government owned laptop contained his personal medical records and he didn't want those to become public. Defense attorney Patrick Benca pointed out that Robert Cessario plans a medical malpractice suit that will make his medical issues public record anyway and the excuse of wiping the laptop to prevent medical records from being made public doesn't pass the smell test. FBI agent Robert Cessario acknowledged that he does plan on suing his doctor, but said any lawsuit he files is unlikely to get the attention the Woods case has received.[54]
"Do you think what you did was proper?" asked Chad Atwell, attorney for one of Woods' co-defendants. "No. I should not have done that," Cessario replied.[55]
Micah Neal Law Firm Computer Crash
U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks wondered aloud from the bench Friday, January 26, 2018, why attorneys in the case did not get pristine copies from the computer in the law office of Neal's attorney, Shane Wilkinson of Bentonville, Arkansas.[56]
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser then told Judge Brooks that late Thursday, January 25, 2018, the FBI sent a computer forensics examiner to Shane Wilkinson's office to make copies of specific files. Mr. Elser then submitted a flash drive to the court which he said contained those specific files. However, upon cross-examination (by the defense) of the expert who collected the copies, it was only then revealed that the files were not taken from the law firm's original hard drive that had stored the audio directly from Neal. The expert had been informed by Mr. Wilkinson's paralegal, Karri Layton, that the hard drive crashed on December 27, 2017, and the whole computer had been replaced, which gives the appearance of a coverup between Micah Neal's attorney Shane Wilkinson and the FBI and the Department of Justice.[57]
Defense Attorney Chad Atwell of Fayetteville conducted the cross-examination of FBI computer forensics examiner, Rebecca Passmore. It was during this lengthy cross examination that Ms. Passmore revealed the Dec. 27 crash and that the original hard drive was nowhere to be found. "I am at a loss for words," Atwell said, when asked for comment after the hearing. "Our pristine copy just went up in smoke," said defense attorney Shelly Koehler of Fayetteville.[58]
It was ordered by the court that an investigation be conducted on Feb. 7, 2018, with the help of FBI computer forensics expert, Amy Corrigan, to search for the original hard drive to Wilkinson's law office computer. It was later revealed that attorney Shane Wilkinson had his hard drive replaced at Megabyte in Bentonville, Arkansas and that Megabyte had backed up his hard drive. Once the backup was reviewed an additional audio was recovered that the DOJ and defense had never heard. In all, 39 audios were given to the defense in April 2017, 79 additional audios in November 2017, and one audio was discovered in February 2018 for a total of 119 audio files (140 hours) which were covertly recorded by Micah Neal.[59]
Conviction
Jon Woods of Springdale, Arkansas, was accused of soliciting and accepting kickbacks for the distribution of government funds. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, twelve counts of wire fraud, and money laundering.[60] Woods was sentenced by Judge Timothy Brooks to 220 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution on September 6, 2018.[61] Brooks ordered Woods to serve less than the Federal sentencing guidelines, which called for a term between 324–405 months.[62]
FBI Agent Pleads Guilty, and Sentenced
On August 17, 2022, Robert Cessario signed a plea agreement stating he was guilty of corrupt destruction of record in an official proceeding.[63][64]
Robert Cessario was the lead FBI investigator in the Jon Woods case. The jury never knew that Cessario destroyed his official work laptop. All of this information was learned during the pre trial phase, and the defense and prosecution were ordered by Judge Timothy Brooks to not bring it up in any way in the presence of the jury.[65][66] As stated in his plea agreement, Cessario erased the laptop hard drive so that it could not be used in the Jon Woods trial.[67][68][69] Cessario could have received up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. On January 5, 2023, he was sentenced to 6 months home confinement without a monitor, followed by a three year probation period, and a $25,000 fine.[70]
Woods appealed his trial to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, arguing that the district court erred in denying Woods' motion to dismiss based on the destruction of data by the FBI. On October 16, 2020, the Circuit Court affirmed the district court's conviction, finding that the destroyed evidence lacked exculpatory value and that the information was available by other means.[72]
In April 2022, Woods filed a new appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.[73] It was unanimously rejected on August 31, 2022; the panel held that “the purportedly newly discovered evidence buttressed rather than rebutted the case against Woods and was immaterial or previously available”.[74][75]
John Nichols Boozman is an American politician and former optometrist serving as the senior United States senator from Arkansas, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for Arkansas's 3rd congressional district from 2001 to 2011. He is the dean of Arkansas's congressional delegation.
Young Timothy Hutchinson is an American Republican politician, lobbyist, and former United States senator from the state of Arkansas.
Vincent L. Leibell III is a former American politician from Putnam County, New York. After a long career in the New York State Legislature, Leibell ran for and was elected county executive in 2010, but resigned prior to taking office following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation which led to his arrest and subsequent conviction on federal corruption charges.
Mark Deli Siljander is an American author and politician who served as a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Michigan. He authored the book A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide.
Martin A. Sandoval was an American Democratic politician and senator for Illinois who admitted guilt to corruption charges in 2020. He sat in the Illinois Senate from 2003 to 2020.
Brian Augustine Joyce was an American politician who was a Massachusetts State Senator for the Democratic Party. He served for nine terms, representing the Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth district, which includes Avon, Braintree Precincts 1A, 1B, 2A & 2B, Canton, East Bridgewater Precinct 4, Easton Precincts 3-6, Milton, Randolph, Sharon Precincts 2 & 3, Stoughton, and West Bridgewater.
The Alaska political corruption probe refers to a 2003 to 2010 widespread investigation by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service into political corruption of nine then-current or former Alaskan state lawmakers, as well as Republican US Representative Don Young and then-US Senator, Republican Ted Stevens. Sometimes referred to as "The Corrupt Bastards Club" or the "Operation Polar Pen", the investigation focused on the oil industry, fisheries and for-profit prison industries.
Ronald Steven Calderon is a former Democratic California State Senator from the 30th Senate District. Calderon is also known for receiving bribes from Michael Drobot.
Ecclesia College is a private evangelical Christian work college in Springdale, Arkansas. It is accredited by the Association for Biblical Higher Education. The college was founded in 1975 by Oren Paris II, the college's first chancellor and the father of recording artist Twila Paris. The college's name is derived from the Latin word ecclesia, derived in turn from the Ancient Greek term ἐκκλησία which means "called-out ones". It was used in ancient Greece to describe those who had been called out from general society to come aside and discuss the affairs of state; it is commonly translated as "church" or "assembly".
In 2007, Pennsylvania Attorney General Republican Tom Corbett began investigating $3.8 million in public bonuses which were paid to state legislative staffers in the Pennsylvania General Assembly to work on party politics and campaigns. While the bonuses themselves are not illegal, state law forbids state employees from performing campaign work while on the job and forbids payment for campaign work out of taxpayer funds.
John Henry Durham is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 2018 to 2021. By April 2019, the Trump administration assigned him to investigate the origins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, and in October 2020 he was appointed special counsel for the Department of Justice on that matter.
The corruption case against then Louisiana Representative William J. Jefferson in the United States started on a suspicion of bribery. The FBI raided his Congressional offices in May 2006. He was re-elected to his seat in the fall. On June 4, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Jefferson on sixteen charges related to corruption. Jefferson was defeated by Republican Joseph Cao on December 6, 2008, and was the most senior Democratic incumbent to lose re-election that year. In 2009 he was tried in the US District Court in Virginia on corruption charges. On August 5, 2009, he was found guilty of 11 of the 16 corruption counts. Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years on November 13, 2009 - the longest sentence ever given to a representative for bribery or any charge.
Micah Scott Neal is a businessman and politician. Neal represented part of Springdale in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2013 until 2017. From 2003 to 2011, he was a justice of the peace on the Washington County quorum court. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to fraud relating to misuse of the state's surplus money.
Ralph Allan Lee Shortey is an American convicted sex offender and former politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2010, defeating several challengers in primary elections, re-elected in 2014 and served his term until 2017. Shortey advocated 'family values' during his campaigns. During his tenure, he established a Republican consulting firm. Shortey was the state campaign chair for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
DCLeaks was a website that was established in June 2016. It was responsible for publishing leaks of emails belonging to multiple prominent figures in the United States government and military. Cybersecurity research firms determined the site is a front for the Russian cyber-espionage group Fancy Bear. On July 13, 2018, an indictment was made against 12 Russian GRU military officers; it alleged that DCLeaks is part of a Russian military operation to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Peter Paul Strzok II is a former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. He was the Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division and led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Previously, he had been the chief of the division's Counterespionage Section and led the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server.
The 2017-2019 Special Counsel investigation involved multiple legal teams, specifically the attorneys, supervised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, taking part in the investigation; the team representing President Trump in his personal capacity; and the team representing the White House as an institution separate from the President.
The Ninety-First Arkansas General Assembly was the legislative body of the state of Arkansas in 2017 and 2018. In this General Assembly, the Arkansas Senate and Arkansas House of Representatives were both controlled by the Republicans. In the Senate, 23 senators were Republicans, 11 were Democrats, and one position was vacant until April. In the House, 69 representatives were Republicans, 30 were Democrats, and one was independent.
United States v. Flynn was a criminal case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia which was dismissed without any convictions in December 2020 following a presidential pardon. Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general in the United States Armed Forces, had accepted President-elect Donald Trump's offer for the position of National Security Advisor in 2016 and then briefly served as National Security Advisor. He pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Flynn's alleged false statements involve conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak when Flynn was incoming National Security Advisor to President-elect Trump, and Flynn agreed to cooperate with the Special Counsel investigation as part of a plea deal.
↑ May 3, 2018 | Former Arkansas State Senator And Consultant Convicted For Bribery Scheme | Duane (DAK) Kees | Department of Justice | U.S. Attorney’s Office | Western District of Arkansas |
↑ | July 10, 2018 | Sentencing dates set for ex-state senator, other participants in kickback scheme | NWA Democrat-Gazette |
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
