SBI agents testify on Wright

State Rep. Thomas Wright told two agents with the State Bureau of Investigation that he pocketed $8,900 intended for a charitable foundation he was starting, according to testimony Wednesday.

SBI Special Agent-in-Charge Johnnie Umphlet testified before a House panel about two interviews that he and another agent conducted with Wright in September and October, David Ingram reports.

During those interviews, they asked Wright what he did with three corporate checks made out to the Community's Health Foundation.

"He advised that he deposited those checks into his personal bank account," Umphlet testified, "as a payment for his services in trying to get the foundation started, that he had done a lot of work and put
in a lot of hours trying to get the foundation started, and had put in a lot of sweat equity."

Wright told the agents he did not have a log of his work, but that he had made phone calls, traveled and incurred other expenses, Umphlet said. 

One of Wright's attorneys, Irving Joyner, questioned the authenticity of the checks and of the letters bearing Wright's name that requested the donations. He also asked Umphlet about his process for taking and transcribing notes.

Joyner attempted to ask Umphlet about a "$50,000 slush fund" that he said Wright might have had access to. Senior Deputy Attorney General William Hart, a lawyer for the House panel, objected to the question, and Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat and the panel's chairman, ruled that the question was not relevant.