Non-profit group files theft report against former Craighead Co. Clerk

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - A local non-profit group speaks out against a former Craighead County clerk accused of theft.

Two days after the arrest of Kade Holliday, the Northeast Arkansas Leadership Business Council (NEALBC) filed a report with the Craighead County Sheriff's Office.

Council President Jeff Morris claims his organization was victimized by Holliday.

"It's extremely frustrating," Morris said. "Mr. Holliday kept all of our records as de facto treasurer."

After learning of Holliday’s arrest June 29th, Morris said he immediately called the bank.

"I was told we have $6.00 in the bank account," Morris said. "That's obviously substantially less than what we had."

According to the incident report, between $15,000 to $20,000 was missing from the NEALBC account.

Morris said most of the money came from the non-profit organization’s first fundraiser call “Project: Stop It” that was working to put individual first aid kits in every classroom throughout Craighead County.

“We actually did a reverse raffle back in December,” Morris said. “My wife is a teacher. my mom’s a teacher. My aunt’s a school teacher...It’s very unfortunate to know that money that was raised for that purpose was stolen from us. Whenever something like this happens it’s definitely unnerving and we understand that frustration of community members or people who perhaps bought tickets in our raffle.”

According to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s website, the Northeast Arkansas Leadership and Business Council was established as a non-profit in November 2019.

As a new organization, Morris’ concern is now turning towards protecting the organization’s image and public trust.

"As an organization that was organized for the exact purpose of bettering our community, it has now been effectively ruined by a seemly corrupt person that the community placed their trust in."

With many of the organization's records kept by Holliday, Morris said they are still working piece together exactly what happened and fully cooperating with sheriff's investigators.

“We expect the justice system to prevail here and to do what it’s intended to do and that’s to hold Mr. Holliday accountable for his actions.”

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