Arkansas sheriff pleads guilty to federal charge

EL DORADO, Ark. — Hot Spring County Sheriff Scott Finkbeiner has pled guilty to ‘Engaging in a Scheme to Conceal a Material Fact from a Governmental Agency.’

“Essentially, misleading the FBI is what the allegation was,” explained Jeff Rosensweig, Finkbeiner’s lawyer.

Finkbeiner, who was arrested on Feb. 7 by federal agents, was originally facing six federal charges, but by the terms of the plea deal he accepted on Friday, the other five charges will be dropped in exchange for his guilty plea.

“Those are gone,” Rosensweig said. “And the government dropped those.”

Finkbeiner’s plea came at a 10:00 a.m. hearing in El Dorado, after which he was sent back to the Saline County Detention Center to be processed and released while he awaits sentencing, which is expected to happen within the next six months.

According to court documents, the charge Finkbeiner pled guilty to stems from an incident that took place beginning in May of 2023, when the FBI began to investigate a man named Kenneth Wayne Smith for illegal narcotics activity.

When the FBI purchased meth from Smith during a sting operation, Finkbeiner was there.

When FBI agents asked Finkbeiner about Smith, he told them that Smith was a “confidential informant” for the county sheriff’s department, and had helped them arrest at least one local meth dealer.

However, Smith later disputed this in an interview, and multiple Hot Spring County deputies interviewed by the FBI also said Smith was never an informant for them, which led to the charge against Finkbeiner for lying to the FBI.

In addition to this federal investigation, Finkbeiner is still facing state charges for his alleged crimes and has a hearing for those charges scheduled for April 8 in Malvern.

Although Finkbeiner was still serving as the sheriff for Hot Spring County, a federal judge in Dec. 2023 removed his law enforcement duties. 

In addition, he will soon be offering his resignation from the position.

“He will be tendering his resignation,” Rosensweig said. “It’s just a matter of getting signatures on the appropriate documents and giving it to the appropriate officers. But he’ll be tendering his resignation very soon.”

Government lawyers at Friday’s hearing said they believed Finkbeiner should remain detained while he waits for his sentencing, but Rosensweig successfully argued against this.

Judge Susan Hickey allowed Finkbeiner to be released as she did not believe there to be much risk that he would attempt to leave the country, noting that he has reported to court every time he’s been asked since 2023.

However, she did warn him that he must not talk to any witnesses and must report to his parole officer during this time period.

The charge Finkbeiner pled guilty to comes with an up to five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $250,000.

We will update this article with more information as it becomes available.