Garrick Feldman reports for the Arkansas Leader that fines collected in the municipal court in Wynne are coming in at double the expected rate since District Judge Joseph Boeckmann was suspended from the bench.
Boeckmann recently quit the bench permanently as a result of a judicial ethics investigation and remains under investigation for favors given to young men in his court, allegedly for sexually related favors such as provocative photographs. Writes Feldman:
The Wynne City Council learned this week that in the first four months of this year, the town has collected two-thirds of what was budgeted for income from fines for the whole year. ….
Apparently most of the fines collected before Boeckmann got caught came from black defendants, women of all ages and older men. But now everyone’s paying fines. Mayor Bob Stacy told us Friday the city had budgeted $185,000 for fines for the whole year and has collected $123,000 so far. At that pace, Wynne could collect $300,000 in fines at year’s end.
That was about the amount the city collected before Boeckmann became judge seven years ago. Fines had been dropping for years.
He was also city attorney and deputy prosecutor for 30 years. Accusations of sexual abuse go back at least that far.
Several lawsuits were filed this week against Boeckmann because of the alleged abuse. The city could also be held liable. One of the lawsuits filed against him alleges sexual abuse in 1985.