The U.S. attorney’s office says another person has pleaded to defrauding a federally financed program to provide meals to poor children.
Waymon D. Weeams, 35, of Dallas pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud. He’ll be sentenced later.
Weeams received money for the SJ&B Outreach Program which was supposed to provide meals in Wynne, Forrest City and Marianna. He blamed as many as 872 children were fed daily, but none was fed at Forrest City and only 10 to 50 at the other two sites. He was paid $697,236. He said he was recruited by Andrew Waits, who’s also been indicted, and his application was approved by Waits’ wife, Gladys King Waits, who worked for the Department of Human Services. She has pleaded guilty. According to the U.S. attorney, Weeams took about $475,000 in cash of the money he received and paid Andrew Waits 40 percent of it.
He’s the 11th person to enter a guilty plea in the multi-million-dollar fraud scheme.