UALR Chancellor Joel Anderson released a statement to the campus community Saturday regarding an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about Anthony Chelte, the former dean of the College of Business.

Anderson’s statement is as follows:

“The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette erred this morning in its story on Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley’s decision not to pursue criminal prosecution against former Dean Tony Chelte. The story includes this sentence, ‘Chelte is now a tenured professor in the Business School.’ This is not true.

Nothing has changed since Dr. Chelte resigned last spring following the report of the UA System Internal Auditor. Dr. Chelte is not a member of the UALR faculty.

After we submitted the case to the Prosecuting Attorney for review, Dean Chelte repaid the amounts of money identified in the auditor’s report. We stand behind the findings of the UA System Internal Auditor, which were not challenged. We respect the Prosecutor’s decision and consider the matter resolved and closed.”

A statement also was released this week from Jeffrey Bell, Senior Associate, Office of General Counsel, University of Arkansas.

Bell said:

“After we submitted the case to the Prosecuting Attorney for review, we made demand on Dr. Chelte to make full restitution of amounts we claimed that he owed UALR, and he did make full restitution. As a result, UALR has been made whole. We respect and accept the Prosecutor’s decision to not pursue criminal charges against Dr. Chelte, although we stand behind the findings of our Internal Auditor. We consider the matter resolved and closed.”

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