Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has announced the arrest of former El Dorado Mayor Veronica Creer on one count of theft of property, by special agents with the agency’s Public Integrity Unit. The charge is a Class C Felony, which carries a sentence of 3-to-10 years if found guilty, and up to $10,000 in fines.
But speaking with Creer over the phone on this Wednesday morning she said, “There’s really not a lot I can say, and I apologize for that because I don’t understand this whole situation. But I’m just hoping that it’ll get resolved.” Creer said she hasn’t even spoken to a lawyer yet about the case and surmised that “there has to be more to it,” saying she’s hoping to learn more about the case against her.
In a statement released to the public, Griffin stated Creer had closed out the bank account of the non-profit organization El Dorado Crime Stoppers in October 2023. Creer had served as a board member until 2016. “She withdrew all $23,544 in the account in the form of a cashier’s check, and a few months later she had the check redirected to another nonprofit, Parents United Against Youth Violence.
Despite no direct involvement since 2016, Creer (who served as Mayor of El Dorado, Arkansas from 2018-2022) was still listed as a signatory on the organization’s bank account. Griffin added, “Her decision to withdraw the money and direct it to a different organization was not approved by anyone but her.”
However, the transfer of funds was not a covert action. Instead, news reports in early February of this year, one of which displayed Creer holding the cashier’s check with Ana Ford of Parents United, chronicled the donation. In a February 10, 2024 report by local newspaper the Magnolia Reporter, the organization explained how the donated money would “be used as monetary rewards for tips leading to the arrest and conviction of unsolved murders” and missing persons cases.
Further, Creer had explained El Dorado Crime Stoppers was a statutorily dissolved non-profit. As such, the organization’s bylaws allowed her, as a former board member, to distribute the funds to Parents United.
In a separate interview Ana Ford, with Parents United, tells Red River Radio News that agents did speak to her about the donation, just questions about the origin of the funds. Ford says she is very surprised this issue has actually turned into a criminal case, a Class C felony, no less. Ford says she was not told to return the money to the authorities. But Ford says she was “strongly advised” not to do anything with the funds until the case is resolved one way or the other.
Griffin’s statement, meanwhile, explained that his special agents arrested Creer Tuesday afternoon, October 1, and that she will stand trial in Union County, Arkansas.
