With accusations of mishandling cases, like the Ross Creek road rage incident that left Patrick Hayes dead on Sept. 25, 2024, the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office is also facing claims of strife between law enforcement agencies in Summit and Wasatch County, including Heber City police.
Retired District Judge Richard D. McKelvie started an investigation into the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office in March at the request of county officials. The investigation wrapped up last month, and the full report — which collected evidence to outline potential policy changes and further actions by county officials — was released on Friday.
McKelvie found instances of Sheriff Jared Rigby and Undersheriff Josh Probst “inserting themselves” in certain investigations and “countermanding decisions,” which he said created a rift between other law enforcement agencies.
As a result of that behavior, he found those relationships had “deteriorated.”
During the investigation, McKelvie reports finding “numerous examples” of the sheriff and undersheriff immersing themselves in investigations that “frustrated detectives and deputies” on the case. He recalled three specific cases.
Heber City
One witness McKelvie interviewed accused Probst of interfering with the investigation of David Martindale, a Timberlakes resident suspected of drug distribution in November 2023. The witness alleged the undersheriff caused a delay in executing a search warrant on Martindale.
According to McKelvie, the safety of officers and the public is “of paramount concern” when it comes to executing search warrants. Officers employ standards and protocols that include whether the search should be conducted by a SWAT team. At the time of this investigation, the Sheriff’s Office was associated with a Special Weapons and Tactics team that included officers from the Heber City Police Department.
Former Sheriff’s Lt. Shane Fredrickson said he was in the room when Probst shouted at a witness in the Martindale case. McKelvie asked a witness about the incident during the investigation, who recalled Probst saying, “It was 2023, and we no longer go around kicking doors like a bunch of cowboys.”
“It was a humiliating, degrading thing to watch, and the room was full of detectives from outside agencies,” Fredrickson said in a separate interview with The Park Record.
Investigating officers determined not to execute the search warrant, which went unserved. The county’s investigation into the Sheriff’s Office recounts mixed reports of Probst’s hesitation to serve the warrant and investigating officers determining not to execute the search warrant out of fear for their safety. Later, Probst’s deputies responded to a death at the residence. Martindale died of a drug overdose.
“We can’t take SWAT teams up and kick down people’s doors and point guns in people’s faces because we’re not willing to do homework and vet and investigate. Our community expects more out of us and we have to give it to them,” Probst told McKevie during the former judge’s investigation.
Wallsburg
In another case, a deputy recounted an alleged “chop shop” investigation near Wallsburg.
The deputy told McKelvie the Sheriff’s Office obtained enough information through interviews and surveillance to obtain a search warrant for the property, which was described as “a large tract of land with outbuildings, but with allegedly stolen property strewn about both inside buildings and out in the open.”
Due to the size of the case, a SWAT team composed of law enforcement from Wasatch County, Heber City, as well as officials from the Utah State Department of Motor Vehicles and the Utah Attorney General’s Office, was called to assist.
However, McKelvie’s interviews recalled statements of Probst calling off the search warrants.
“Somebody’s ego just got in the way here and we had to shut it down,” a witness said to McKelvie.
Probst recalled the event differently. In an interview with McKelvie, Probst said details of the warrant were leaked to a deputy’s spouse.
“She’s describing it as the most dangerous warrant we’ve served in the history of Wasatch County, and confidentiality has been broke,” Probst said in the report. “And with how word travels in that small community in Wallsburg, I feel it is unsafe for us to go execute this warrant when it’s being talked about openly in the public ahead of the service.”
The warrant was returned unexecuted. The investigation was dropped.
According to additional witnesses, McKelvie found that a warrant was obtained through a separate investigator, who uncovered “hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen property.”
Hideout
Greg Kyle DeBoer admitted burying the gun he used to shoot and kill Patrick Hayes following a road rage incident that ended at the Ross Creek entrance of Jordanelle State Park last fall. DeBoer told Wasatch County investigators he acted in self-defense.
A warrant to search DeBoer’s Browns Canyon residence was obtained after a 48-day investigation. Due to the timing of DeBoer’s arrest on Dec. 24, the lead investigator on the case was away for the holiday and not directly updated on the arrest.
“As the primary detective and other very experienced officers prepared to execute the search warrant, they were instructed by Sheriff Rigby and Undersheriff Probst not to arrest the suspect, regardless of what was found in the search,” a section of McKelvie’s report states.
After the search, the Sheriff’s Office worked with the Wasatch County Attorney’s Office, which pursued a single obstruction of justice charge.
Though DeBoer was not charged with homicide, McKelvie found there was “compelling evidence” to support such a charge in the case.
Rifts between Summit, Wasatch counties
McKelvie described “a rift” between the Summit and Wasatch sheriff’s offices, including an interview with now-retired Summit County Sheriff Frank Smith. The former judge also interviewed Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever and Deputy Chief Branden Russell.
“All three candidly discussed their relationships with the WCSO in general, and with Sheriff Rigby and Undersheriff Probst, and each expressed their opinions that those relationships had deteriorated significantly under Sheriff Rigby’s administration, even to the extent that some joint task forces and other joint operations had been temporarily abandoned,” the report states.
Smith also recounted his distaste for a YouTube video where Rigby is recorded interviewing a Heber City police officer who filed a complaint against the former police chief. Smith told McKelvie he “didn’t like what (he) saw,” and thought it would be best for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office to take a step back.
McKelvie, in his recommendations, suggests that a memorandum of understanding be used with other law enforcement agencies to “minimize potential conflict” and pursue further joint operations.
He stated that Rigby, an elected official halfway through his second term, “is at liberty to take any corrective action he thinks is appropriate given the information compiled in this report.”
Rigby denied any inappropriate interference in investigations.
“There’s no investigation interference in any of these cases,” Rigby said. “The bottom line is that the chief or the sheriff or whoever the head of the law enforcement agency is, has the final responsibility when it comes to investigations. And then on top of that, that agency head works with the county attorney in preparing any charges if there are going to be some.”
Rigby also acknowledged that the Sheriff’s Office would be open to establishing a memorandum of understanding with other law enforcement agencies
In a press release, Rigby said the Sheriff’s Office plans to use the investigation to implement recommendations outlined in the report to make “positive changes internally.”
“Our office has a long and successful legacy. I am very proud of our employees for what we have accomplished and provided our communities over the past seven years,” a section of the press release states. “You have my ongoing commitment to strive to provide all possible resources and opportunities to make this office even better in accomplishing our mission.”