State auditors find no problems in Texarkana-area prosecutors’ books for 2025
Reports on the 8th Judicial District South and 9th Judicial District West were released Thursday; forfeitures made up most of the money flowing through both offices.
TEXARKANA, Ark. — Arkansas Legislative Audit found nothing to report in its 2025 review of the two prosecuting attorney offices that cover southwest Arkansas, according to reports released Thursday.
The reports cover the office of Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell in the 8th Judicial District South, which serves Miller and Lafayette counties, and the office of Prosecuting Attorney Jana Bradford in the 9th Judicial District West, which serves Little River, Sevier, Howard and Pike counties.
“During our evaluation, nothing came to our attention that would warrant disclosure in this report,” Legislative Auditor Kevin William White wrote in each report.
The reports were on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee’s Counties and Municipalities subcommittee in Little Rock.
Mitchell provided no comment when asked about the report by TXK Today Thursday.
8th District South ended the year with $476,299
Mitchell’s office took in $85,858 during 2025 and spent $69,632, all of it on law enforcement, according to the report. The office began the year with $460,073 in its general fund and ended it with $476,299.
Forfeitures accounted for $62,141 of the receipts. The rest came from hot check fees, the prosecutor’s expense allowance, interest and $18,507 listed as other income.
The office also held $102,722 in custodial accounts at year’s end that had not yet been passed along to other entities. That included $81,500 in the asset forfeiture fund, $19,027 in court-ordered restitution and $2,195 in the hot check trust fund.
The office listed $68,145 in equipment on its capital asset records.
9th District West spent more than it took in
Bradford’s office received $82,959 in 2025, nearly all of it from forfeitures, which totaled $80,074. Hot check fees brought in the remaining $2,885.
The office spent $116,024 on law enforcement during the year, drawing its general fund balance down from $103,445 to $70,380.
Custodial accounts held $86,314 in the asset forfeiture fund and $9,899 in the hot check trust fund at the end of the year. The office listed $36,033 in equipment.
What the reports cover
The reviews are not full audits. Legislative Audit performs what it calls limited procedures on cash-basis financial records and checks compliance with state laws and accepted accounting practices. The financial figures in the reports are labeled unaudited.
Mitchell’s office review was dated Sept. 9. Bradford’s was dated Aug. 24.
Under state law, every report presented to the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee is a public record. Both reports are posted on the Arkansas Legislative Audit website.
The same release included Legislative Audit’s 2025 report on Hempstead County, which found $3,627 in county scrap metal sale proceeds had not been turned over to the county treasurer.