Little Rock man sentenced to federal prison for equipment-flipping scheme

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — A Little Rock man has been sentenced to federal prison for organizing a scheme that defrauded a government program intended for helping non-profits, municipal agencies, and disadvantaged businesses, according to Cody Hiland, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

62-year-old Mark Gregory Jackson Senior was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised released after he serves his time.

A press release states that Jackson and accomplices 54-year-old Jimmy Don Winemiller, Jr. and 40-year-old Don "Terrell" Stephens, Jr., also of Little Rock all pleaded guilty in July of 2018 to conspiring to commit wire fraud.

Jackson was ordered to forfeit more than $1 million and pay up to $350,000 to settle related tax deficiencies.

Last October, Stephens was sentenced to 30 days in jail and had to forfeit over $125,000. In March, Winemiller was sentenced to 20 months in prison and had to forfeit nearly $275,000.

The scheme targeted the Federal Surplus Property Donation Program that allowed qualifying non-profits, municipal agencies, and disadvantaged businesses to get government surplus at below-market prices.

Recipients are required to show a legitimate need for the surplus, and must agree not to sell, lease, or rent it.

Jackson reportedly operated through his construction business, Kingridge Enterprises, Inc. He got access to the program by falsely claiming his disadvantaged nephew owned and operated Kingridge. In reality, his nephew never worked for the company and lived more than 100 miles away from the Little Rock headquarters.

Jackson gave false justifications once he was in the program to acquire surplus which was usually construction equipment. He began selling the equipment under false pretenses at steep prices.

To hide the fraud, Jackson made buyers sign fake "joint venture" contracts and attempted to hide the activity from investigators.

On October 1, 2013, an out-of-state equipment dealer sent Winemiller $20,000 for a CAT 621B Scraper. Winemiller then paid Jackson $18,500. On October 2, Jackson, through his construction business, successfully requested donation of the CAT 621B Scraper for just $12,000 by falsely claiming Kingridge needed it for a “$1.1 Million Dollar Corp [sic] Engineer Project.”

Over the course of four years, Jackson unlawfully flipped more than 100 pieces of equipment through similar deals, making over $1 million in the process.