Little Rock - Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced today that United States District Judge D. Price Marshall, Jr. sentenced Harold Allen Smith, 47, of Greenbriar, to one month in federal prison to be followed by one year of supervised release with the special condition that the first month of supervised release must be served in a halfway house. He was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons in 30 days.
Smith was charged by an Information and pled guilty to one count of transferring a false birth certificate via the United States mail on April 19, 2013. The charges involve activities by Smith in the Spring of 2012 when he was a candidate in the Republican primary for Sheriff of Faulkner County.
In the Spring of 2012, Harold Smith was one of the candidates for Sheriff of Faulkner County in the Republican primary. During February and March, 2012, Smith had meetings with people to discuss the election and how to prevent another Republican candidate, Andy Shock, from winning the primary. Some of the people who met with Smith had suggestions including that Smith drop out of the race to run an anti-Shock campaign, and that it would be funny if a birth certificate surfaced showing that Shock was the father of an illegitimate black child. As a result, Smith, with the help of another person, created false Texas birth certificates showing that Shock was the father of an illegitimate black child.
On March 28, 2012, Smith and another person drove to Hooks, Texas where Smith mailed approximately 12 envelopes containing a note and a false Texas birth certificate to residents in Faulkner County, Arkansas, who it was believed would vote in the Republican primary.
In spite of the efforts of Smith, Andy Shock won the Republican primary and in November, 2012, won the general election and is currently the Sheriff of Faulkner County.
This investigation was conducted by United States Postal Inspection Service. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Harris and AUSA Cameron McCree prosecuted this case for the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
