For what she called "a devastating error in judgment," a former 16-year veteran of the state Department of Human Services was sentenced Wednesday to nine years in prison and became jointly responsible for repaying more than $7.6 million in stolen federal funds that were intended to feed hungry children.

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Tonique Hatton, 39, of North Little Rock admitted in September that while working in the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education, she took bribes in 2012, 2013 and 2014 to allow two other women to fraudulently obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars of U.S. Department of Agriculture funds.

The USDA funded feeding programs that were administered by the Human Services Department to provide snacks or meals for children in low-income areas after school or during the summer. People who signed up to be sponsors at feeding sites across the state, and who were approved by the department, were later reimbursed by the federal government on the basis of claims they submitted through the state.

Federal prosecutors said that in several cases, the submitted claims were greatly exaggerated or outright false, allowing a handful of people to receive huge "reimbursements" when, in truth, they had fed very few or no children.

Hatton pleaded guilty Sept. 6 to conspiring to commit wire fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris told U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. then that Hatton's responsibilities at the Human Services Department included processing applications from people who applied to be sponsors, determining the would-be sponsors' eligibility and approving their proposed feeding sites. Harris said Hatton accepted $30,770 in bribe checks made out to her, and another $62,700 in bribe checks made out to a relative of hers, to approve the applications.

Hatton and another former DHS employee, Gladys King, were described as the "gatekeepers" of the operation. One of the two women Hatton and King admitted approving as sponsors, despite knowing that they intended to commit fraud, is set to be tried in a two- or three-week jury trial beginning March 27. She is Jacqueline Mills, 41, of Helena-West Helena, who is accused of personally receiving more than $2.5 million through the program.

The other woman who admitted paying bribes to Hatton and King so she could fraudulently receive $3.6 million is Kattie Jordan, 51, of Dermott, who is serving a five-year sentence.

Mills; Dortha Harper, 51, of England; and Anthony Waits, 38, who is also from England and is King's ex-husband, face charges of wire fraud and wire-fraud conspiracy at the March trial. It will be the first trial stemming from nine separate indictments alleging feeding-program fraud that have been handed up since Hatton, Mills and King were the first to be indicted in December 2014.

Late Wednesday afternoon, several hours after Hatton was sentenced, 26-year-old Michael Lee of Little Rock pleaded guilty in another federal courtroom to 20 counts of wire fraud, admitting he was one of the sponsors who filed exaggerated claims in the same time period, receiving $666,428.07 that was deposited directly into his bank account.

In Hatton's case, federal sentencing guidelines recommended a prison term of between 108 months, or nine years, and 135 months, or a little over 11 years.

Her ex-husband asked the judge to sentence her below the range for the sake of their children -- an 18-year-old son who is in college, a 12-year-old girl and a 2-year-old. Hatton also spoke to the judge, apologizing for her actions and saying she had embarrassed herself and her family.

"I am a single parent and my children really depend on me," she said through tears at a courtroom lectern, asking the judge not to "take me away from them."

Her attorney, Stuart Vess of Little Rock, asked Moody to sentence Hatton at the low end of the penalty range and to recommend that Hatton participate in a drug treatment program that, if successfully completed, could shave some time off her sentence. He cited a paragraph in her pre-sentence report prepared by U.S. probation officers that she had abused hydrocodone years earlier. Vess also noted that Hatton was "in no position to be able to pay a fine."

Harris objected to allowing Hatton to avoid a prison sentence, noting that while she "no doubt has done some good things in her life" and had no previous criminal history, "the facts and circumstances of this case warrant a guideline sentence."

Harris reminded the judge that the case involved "very large sums of money" and hurt children that the funds were meant to benefit. She also noted that Hatton, who is expected to testify as a government witness in the March trial, violated a position of trust at the Human Services Department to carry out her crime.

Moody imposed the lowest recommended sentence for Hatton while approving the government's request to keep $17,681.49 that it seized from her checking account. He also ordered her to be held jointly and severally liable with other defendants who have been and have yet to be convicted in the feeding-fraud cases for repaying $7,632,871.77 in restitution to the USDA.

In the plea hearing later Wednesday before Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M̶a̶r̶s̶h̶a̶l̶l̶ Miller*, Lee admitted to each of the wire-fraud charges for which he was indicted, without a plea agreement. Each count corresponded to a direct deposit from the USDA into his bank account between Oct. 7, 2012, and June 8, 2014, with the amounts of the deposits ranging from $17,861.51 to $68,068.

Harris said Lee falsely claimed to operate a feeding site in Arkadelphia on behalf of an organization called Our Children of Tomorrow I, as well as a feeding site at 5232 Baseline Road in Little Rock on behalf of an organization called Our Children of Tomorrow II.

She said that while he submitted claims indicating he had fed from 115 to 450 children at a time at the Arkadelphia site, witnesses saw only 25 to 30 children at a time there. At the Baseline Road site, Harris said, Lee claimed to have fed from 76 to 350 kids at a time, but "no children were ever seen" there.

Harris said Lee used most of the money he received through the scam for personal use and cash withdrawals. She said he initially told investigators that he was introduced to the scam by his mother-in-law and never would have been involved in it if not for her. He told them he paid the woman $3,000 to $5,000 cash from each payment he received.

But Harris said Lee later told investigators that he had misspoken in his initial interview due to being nervous, and that his mother-in-law wasn't involved.

The woman, who sat in the courtroom gallery Wednesday during the plea hearing with her daughter, Lee's wife, hasn't been charged with a crime.

Metro on 01/05/2017

*CORRECTION: Michael Lee, 26, of Little Rock pleaded guilty Wednesday before Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller to 20 counts of wire fraud in a scam to steal federal funds that were intended to feed hungry children. A previous version of this article misidentified the judge who presided over the case.