LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin announced today that Gabriel Fortenberry, 27, of Jonesboro, has entered a guilty plea on one count of Abuse of an Endangered or Impaired Person.
"My office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit secured a guilty plea by a former caregiver at the Jonesboro Human Development Center. Using force and injuring those under your care is intolerable and despicable behavior," Griffin stated.
He further commended Special Agent Laura Glover and Assistant Attorney General Gabby Davis-Jones for their efforts in securing the conviction. Griffin also expressed gratitude to the office of Second Judicial District Prosecutor Sonia Fonticella for its assistance in the case.
Fortenberry pleaded guilty to the Class D Felony on September 9. While employed as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Jonesboro HDC, Fortenberry pushed a client, causing him to fall and cut his forehead. He was sentenced to five years of probation, a $1,000 fine, and anger management training. Additionally, he was terminated from his position at Jonesboro HDC.
For more information about Attorney General Tim Griffin:
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023. Previously, he served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023 and represented Arkansas’s Second Congressional District from 2011-2015. His congressional roles included serving on several House committees such as Ways and Means, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Ethics, and Judiciary while also acting as Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin has over 28 years of service in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps and currently holds the rank of colonel. He served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq in 2005 after being mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Currently commanding the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana, Griffin's previous assignments include command roles at Fort Liberty (formerly Bragg), North Carolina and advisory positions at the Pentagon. He earned a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.
His career also includes roles such as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas; Special Assistant to President George W. Bush; Deputy Director of Political Affairs; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney; Senior Investigative Counsel for the Government Reform and Oversight Committee; and Associate Independent Counsel during investigations related to HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is an alumnus of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, Tulane Law School in New Orleans, with additional graduate studies at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). He resides in Little Rock with his wife Elizabeth and their three children.