LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A former Arkansas State Senator and State Representative was sentenced to prison on Wednesday.
Henry (Hank) Wilkins IV had previously pleaded guilty back in 2018 to conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to devise a scheme.
According to reports, he was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for "conspiring to accept over $95,000 in bribes." This was in exchange for influencing state legislation in Arkansas, as well as transactions.
Those include "steering" about $245,000 in Arkansas General Improvement funds to some of his co-conspirators— which included executives at a Missouri-based health care charity.
Wilkins admitted to creating a scheme to pass the bribe payments off as donations to the St. James Methodist Church in Pine Bluff, where Wilkins was previously a pastor.
Asides from the prison sentence, Wilkins was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and to pay $123,000 in institutions.
He is set to report to prison by March 7, 2023.
