Attorney General Griffin Announces Arrest of Former Employee of the City of Alexander for Theft

Griffin: ‘Corruption in any form is reprehensible, but violating the trust that Arkansans have in public servants is particularly egregious’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement after an investigation by his office’s Public Integrity Unit led to the arrest of Melissa Ann Anthony-Ratliff, 36, a former employee of the city of Alexander, in Memphis, Tennessee:

“I commend the agents in my office’s Public Integrity Unit who worked diligently to investigate this case. Corruption in any form is reprehensible, but violating the trust that Arkansans have in public servants is particularly egregious.”

Anthony-Ratliff’s arrest came after Public Integrity Unit agents and staff at Arkansas Legislative Audit conducted a financial review showing that, in 2021 and 2022, she claimed to have worked many more hours than she actually did. Those false claims led to her being paid more than twice her annual salary over those years. 

Anthony-Ratliff was arrested on July 25 and charged with theft of property, a class B felony. She was extradited from Memphis to Pulaski County, where she is currently incarcerated at the Pulaski County Jail being held on a $10,000 bond.

To download a PDF version of this release, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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