The Utah attorney general’s office has declined to prosecute two former top Unified Fire Authority (UFA) officials — one of them a popular Republican Salt Lake County councilman — who faced allegations of nepotism and misusing public funds.
After a more than yearlong investigation, the office said it decided there wasn’t a reasonable likelihood that former Chief Michael Jensen and former Deputy Chief Gaylord Scott could be criminally convicted.
That’s because “the exorbitant bonuses, reimbursement for personal vacations attached to official travel, purchase of electronic equipment for personal use, and the hiring of close family members outside UFA hiring rules were all ultimately approved through the loose UFA governance and management structure,” the office concluded in a prepared statement.