Workman may face felony counts

Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman was riding a horse in Sandy's Dimple Dell Park Wednesday morning when she got the news: A panel of four county attorneys announced that it had found "sufficient credible evidence" to charge her with felony misuse of public monies.

Workman clicked off her cell phone, looked at the hundreds of acres of wilderness around her and sighed.

"Last time I was here, my horse threw me on my head," she said. "Now this. This is not a good place to be."

Several hours later, Workman — still in the boots, jeans and T-shirt she wore while riding — stood before a swarm of reporters in a Salt Palace Convention Center room and maintained she had done nothing wrong except fail to strictly follow procedure in paying county employees to help her daughter. She said she would fight the charges and continue her re-election campaign.

"I cannot roll over," she said.

The panel report said "there is sufficient credible evidence against Mayor Workman to sustain two criminal counts of Misusing Public Monies. . . . The amounts in question are $4,085.00 and $13,177.50, making one count a third-degree felony and one count a second-degree felony. Additionally, the panel believes there may be violations of (sections) of the Utah Local Health Department Act prohibiting health department employees from receiving illegal payment, a class B misdemeanor."

The panel came to its conclusion after looking into Workman's hiring of two employees who did accounting work under her daughter, Aisza Wilde, at the Murray-based Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley. The employees, whose time cards were signed by Workman herself, were paid primarily with county money. The panel found that "there is no evidence that either ever performed any work for Salt Lake County."

Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom, who conducted the investigation into the matter, convened the panel in June to avoid the conflicts inherent in a county attorney deciding whether to charge his own chief executive with a crime.

Workman, noting that the panel based its conclusions on Yocom's investigation, as well as the fact that one of Yocom's investigators sat in on all the panel's meetings, said it wasn't enough.

"They've long had a saying in the computer business: garbage in, garbage out," she said in a press release. "The conclusion of the panel can only be as valid as the input its members received."

The panel convened by Yocom consisted of Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson, Weber County chief deputy attorney William Daines, Summit County chief prosecuting attorney David Brickey and Davis County deputy county attorney Brian Namba.

Yocom has yet to decide whether to actually charge Workman consistent with the panel's conclusions.

Comments

• Story photo

• Most Popular
• Most Commented

1. Glenn Beck sees new project as 'most important' of his life
2. USU football: Andersen is the Aggies' new guy
3. Collie has made his All-American case
4. MSNBC names Buttars 'worst person in world'
5. BYU, Weber State basketball: Cougars shoot down Wildcats
6. Utah Utes, BYU football: Utes are rewarded with MWC accolades
7. Utah Utes basketball: Utes run, gun and rebound past Oregon
8. BYU, Weber State basketball: Rahe says BYU loss will be turning point
9. Utah Jazz: Wade, Heat humble hurting Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena
10. Reid gives Big 3 little hope

1. Sore losers won't let go in California 639
2. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, oldest apostle, 91, dies at home 252
3. Boise State should man up, play TCU 196
4. BYU football: Destination is unknown for Cougars 194
5. Buttars says bah to 'holiday' greetings 186
6. Smith's journals made available to public for 1st time 151
7. MSNBC names Buttars 'worst person in world' 106
8. Obama announces Clinton, Gates for Cabinet 105
9. Utah Utes football: Johnson, Sakoda, Whittingham headline All-MWC honors 102
10. Mulling over some BCS possibilities 94
11. (Stories published in the last five days with the most comments)

• A & E
• LDS news
• Sports