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Prosecutors have dropped two felony charges against former Mayor David Nixon after he repaid the city, months after the district’s top prosecutor said in a separate corruption case that paying money back does not erase the crime.
A Marion County judge dismissed the case against Nixon on June 23 at the request of the 14th Judicial District prosecutor’s office. The dismissal came after Nixon paid restitution to the city of Bull Shoals.
Nixon, who served as mayor from 2017 to 2022, had faced abuse of office and theft of property, both Class C felonies. He was never convicted, and a dismissal by nolle prosequi ends a case without a finding of guilt.
The Arkansas attorney general’s Public Integrity Unit brought the charges in February 2024. A special agent’s sworn affidavit alleged that Nixon had the city reimburse his Medicare Part B premiums for years without approval from the city council.
The affidavit put those reimbursements at $5,915.10. It stated that a review of council minutes from 2017 through 2022 found no ordinance, resolution or vote authorizing the payments.
The issue surfaced after Nixon left office. The affidavit says the city’s recorder-treasurer asked incoming Mayor Mike Savu to sign a reimbursement check to Nixon, that Savu refused, and that he reported the matter to state investigators.
In an interview with investigators, Nixon called the reimbursements “administrative discretion.” He said he had dropped his city insurance for Medicare and a supplemental policy to save the city money, and believed he was entitled to full health coverage.
The dismissal stands in contrast to how the district’s elected prosecutor, David Ethredge, has described similar conduct elsewhere.
This year, Ethredge pursued felony charges against officials in Boone County, which his district also covers. He asked Arkansas State Police and Legislative Audit to investigate after money went missing from county accounts.
Those cases led to charges against the Boone County judge and a former county employee. The employee faces abuse of office, theft of $25,000 or more, fraudulent use of a credit card and tampering with physical evidence.
Speaking about that case, Ethredge told a Little Rock television station that repaying misused money does not make it lawful. He said of the employee’s spending, “you can’t do that with a county credit card.”
The two matters differ in scale. The Boone County case involves tens of thousands of dollars and an allegation of evidence tampering, while the Nixon case involves a few thousand dollars in health-related reimbursements.
The money Nixon paid back was also less than the amount alleged. Court records show he paid $2,424.00, while the affidavit put the unauthorized reimbursements at $5,915.10. The court file does not explain the difference.
The payment came from the trust account of the law firm Cooper and Bayless and was filed with the court July 6. Restitution is held by the court and released to the victim, in this case the city, after a case closes.
The Nixon dismissal is not the first decision by the 14th District to draw public criticism. Residents questioned the office over the removal of a man from the state sex offender registry, a request the prosecutor’s office did not oppose.
The attorney general’s office investigated and charged Nixon, but the request to dismiss the case was filed in Marion County Circuit Court by John Russo, a deputy prosecutor in Ethredge’s district. The case was heard before Circuit Judge Andrew Bailey.
