News/Events

Says, ‘being held responsible for its unacceptable business practices’

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge obtained a judgment valued at more than $600,000 against The Resort Place LLC and owners Jay Allen Edmonson and Dora Ann Edmonson. The Resort Place operated under the names Resort Place Travel and C4Success. Based on allegations in the complaint, The Resort Place failed to book pre-paid vacations and used consumers’ credit card information to pay for other consumers’ vacations.

“The Resort Place is being held responsible for its unacceptable business practices and causing 47 consumers to lose their hard-earned money,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “I’m dedicated to protecting Arkansans from these types of deceptive business practices.”

The judgment, which was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, orders The Resort Place to pay $162,614.00 in restitution to consumers. The Edmonsons must also pay $10,000 in civil penalties for each affected consumer, totaling $470,000. The Resort Place’s business license has been revoked, and the Edmonsons have been barred from owning an online travel agency or working as travel agents in the future.

Rutledge filed a consumer-protection lawsuit against The Resort Place in February 2017 after receiving a number of consumer complaints. The settlement concludes a multi-year investigation into The Resort Place.

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced the arrest of a Polk County man for crimes involving children.

James Edward Schroer, 41, of Cove, was arrested by the Attorney General’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit on 30 counts of distributing, possessing or viewing of matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, a Class C felony. He is currently being held at the Polk County jail on $500,000 bond.

Special agents in the Attorney General’s office seized three phones, two computer hard drives, two tablets, three SD cards, and 12 flash drives from the home. This file will be turned over to 18th West Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Andy Riner.

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge released the following statement after President Donald J. Trump announced Lee Rudofsky’s nomination for a judgeship in the U.S. District Court Eastern District.

“When I hired Lee away from Walmart in 2015, I knew that he had the experience and legal acumen to be the lead strategist on crucial litigation for my administration as the first official Solicitor General of the Attorney General’s Office,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “I am confident that as a jurist Lee will be fair, impartial and will adhere to the rule of law.”

In 2015, Rudofsky was hired by Attorney General Rutledge to be the first official Solicitor General for the Attorney General. In that role, he advised Attorney General Rutledge on several key proceedings, including defending the State’s decision to successfully terminate Medicaid program funding to Planned Parenthood. He organized a multistate, bipartisan and multimillion dollar lawsuit against the State of Delaware to the U.S. Supreme Court and successfully guided litigation allowing the execution of convicted murderers by lethal injection. Rudofsky is also credited with implementing the office’s formal moot court program to prepare office attorneys for argument as well as establishing a clear review process of all briefs going to the 8th Circuit and Arkansas Supreme Court.

Says, ‘difference between life and death for a child’

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced the allocation of an additional $150,000 for the Child Abduction Response Teams (CART) program, a multiagency initiative coordinated by the Criminal Justice Institute. This announcement comes after the collaborative effort completed the first in the nation, statewide certification of all twelve CARTs located in the state, streamlining resources to better protect children in Arkansas if they are abducted, missing or endangered.

“Too many parents live in anguish of a lost or abducted child, and we must do everything in our power to bring missing children home,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “CART teams understand how precious each second is when investigating an abduction which can mean the difference between life and death for a child.”

In 2016, a partnership was formed between the Attorney General’s Office, the Criminal Justice Institute, Arkansas State Police, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The agreement formed the foundation for twelve CARTs with the goal of reducing the response time and increasing the likelihood of a successful recovery for missing or abducted children.

In 2015, Rutledge designated $100,000 from the Standard & Poor settlement to facilitate the implementation of CARTs throughout the state.

The multi-agency and multi-discipline response has established and practice channels of response to reduce time and has received full certification from the U.S. Department of Justice, AMBER Alert and Technical Assistance Program.