National News
Iron County Justice Court employees could face criminal charges for erased records
January 30, 2015 posted by Steve Brownstein
Five employees from the Iron County Justice Court were placed on an administrative leave for allegedly deleting traffic citations from official records. The employees, who have not yet been identified, had apparently dismissed citations for their family and friends.
The Parowan Police Department was assigned to investigate the case since they are not affiliated with Iron County courts. Parowan Police Chief Ken Carpenter said their determination of the case will serve as a 3rd party neutral agency.
"I was contacted about 7-9 weeks ago by the Iron County Attorney's Office and they asked us to conduct an investigation looking into this particular case," Chief Ken Carpenter told ABC4.
He declined to discuss the identity of the employees and their positions but said the standard procedure to dismiss a citation goes through the officer who issued it, not the clerks.
"Right now it's an active investigation. Once it's completed it will be given to the prosecutor, not from the County Attorney's office, but an independent prosecutor," he said.
Chief Carpenter reviewed the case today and will submit it to attorney Justin Wayment in Cedar City. The prosecutor will then review the citations to determine whether or not criminal violations were made.
"If criminal charges are filed, we want to ensure that their rights are protected and that they have a fair-shake in the court system," Chief Carpenter said.
Police officials said if criminal charges are filed, it can be anything from fraud, forgery or destroying court records, which is a class B misdemeanor.