Martha Shoffner, who reported to federal prison Nov. 3, 2015 for a 30-month sentence for taking bribes in return for state bond business when she was state treasurer, is nearing the end of her sentence and is now in a halfway house to transition back to private life.
Shoffner, 73, had been held at a federal prison medical facility in Fort Worth. The federal website for prisoners indicates she’s now in care of the federal re-entry management agency, but for privacy reasons, it will not reveal the specific location. However, I’ve learned she returned to Little Rock early this month for residency in a halfway house here. She’ll complete her sentence there or perhaps in home detention and complete her term Jan. 1. She’ll likely live with her sister on release. Her sentence specified supervised release for two years. Federal prisoners can get at least a 15 percent sentence reduction for time served without incident, which explains how she will complete the 30-month sentence in 26 months.
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Her sentence included an order that she repay more than $31,000 she received from a bond dealer, Steele Stephens (who wasn’t charged after wearing a wire to help catch Shoffner) but her lack of financial resources qualified her for a publicly paid lawyer. In pleading for leniency in sentencing, her attorney, Chuck Banks, said Shoffner was broke and disgraced. She apologized for her actions.
Incidentally, Steven Jones , the former state legislator and DHS official who went to prison in the bribery case involving Ted Suhl and his behavioral health agencies, is also under supervision of the re-entry management agency with a Dec. 27 release date. I’d heard recently from someone who thought they’d seen Jones in Little Rock. Those in halfway houses can go to work and other duties during the day and return to halfway houses at night. He was sentenced to 30 months in 2016.