In the Spotlight
by daniel_g 20 hours ago
From We Love Trump
Former Arkansas State Senator Jon Woods was the first lawmaker in the state to endorse President Trump in 2016.
From Arkansas Times:
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.
Two years later U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas sentenced Jon Woods to serve 18 years in federal prison.
From KARK:
In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas sentenced Woods to serve three years of supervised release and ordered Woods to pay $1.6 million in restitution.
According to officials, Woods must be gainfully employed or actively looking for employment when he gets out.
Woods had been accused of accepting kickbacks from Ecclesia College for giving grants to the university.
On May 3 2018, a jury found Jonathan E. Woods, 41, of Springdale, Arkansas, guilty of 15 counts, including conspiracy, honest services wire and mail fraud, and money laundering.
However, a “former FBI agent pleaded guilty to paying a business to “wipe” his computer to make the hard drive unavailable for forensic examination,” KATV revealed.
According to court documents, former agent Robert Cessario was charged with “corrupt destruction of record in an official proceeding” in connection to the corruption trial of former state Sen. Jon Woods of Springdale.
In the plea deal, Cessario stated: “I erased the contents of the computer hard knowing that the court has ordered that the computer be submitted for a forensic examination. I did so with the intention of making the contents of the computer’s hard unavailable for forensic examination. At the time, I knew that the contents of the hard drive were relevant to an official proceeding, that is, Cause No. 5:17-CR-50010, United States v. Woods et al. I corruptly performed and had performed, the erasures with intent to impair the integrity and availability of the computer hard drive and its contents for use in that official proceeding.”
Cessario could possibly face 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, forfeiture of property involved in the criminal offense, and supervision upon release.
Cessario’s charges stem from his role in the corruption trial of Woods who was convicted of mail fraud and 14 counts of wire fraud in 2018.
As The Gateway Pundit noted, Jon Woods still sits in prison even though the DOJ and FBI have now admitted they framed an innocent man by destroying evidence.
Further details from The Gateway Pundit:
Woods obtained funds for a Christian school in Arkansas and the government alleged that the donation to the school was a form of fraud because it was collected under false pretenses. The case against Woods was the Department of Justice’s favorite trick: using the word ‘fraud’ to apply to any financial transaction they don’t like.
The Court has known about the illegal destruction of evidence the entire time. Woods’ appeal to the 8th Circuit of Appeals before appellate judges Jane Kelly, an Obama appointee, Michael J. Melloy, a Bush Sr. appointee, and Jonathan A. Kobes, a Trump appointee, case# 18-3057 on October 16, 2020, was denied even though the appellate court knew that the FBI destroyed relevant evidence on purpose.
Here are the details of the FBI trying to destroy relevant evidence in the Woods case:
- Woods’ attorneys realized they were missing critical evidence that would prove Woods’ innocence, and asked the prosecutor to turn over a laptop.
- On November 30, 2017, the lead FBI Special Agent Robert Cessario, was ordered by the Assistant United States Attorney, Aaron Jennen, to deliver his government issued laptop to an FBI forensics examiner in Little Rock named Timothy Whitlock for a forensics examination.
- FBI Criminal Agent Cessario learned of what the examination would entail during a phone conversation with Agent Whitlock on December 1, 2017.
- Agent Cessario then brought his government issued laptop to a local computer store in Bentonville, Arkansas on December 4, 2017, at 11:18am and paid in cash the amount of $59.50 to have it professionally ‘wiped’ meaning to eliminate all the digital files.
- FBI Criminal Agent Cessario then took the laptop home on December 7, 2017 had it ‘wiped’ at least one more time before turning it over as instructed.
- When Criminal Cessario was confronted by FBI Agent Shun Turner, Criminal Cessario asked Turner along with another Agent Whitlock to LIE and NOT report that the laptop had been ‘wiped.’
- Agents Whitlock and Turner did the right thing and reported Criminal Cessario
