Wasatch County Manager Dustin Grabau and Sheriff Jared Rigby say they fully intend to make changes to address accusations of retaliation, favoritism, interference and interagency rifts in the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office, following the findings of an investigation released Friday.
Rigby himself was directly accused in the investigative report —led by retired Utah State District Court Judge Richard D. McKelvie — of retaliatory offenses against employees, investigative interference, absenteeism and misuse of county resources and property. He denies any wrongdoing.
“Our overall response and approach here is that we’re grateful for the report that’s been done and the review,” Rigby said. “We appreciate the recommendations and, as much as possible, we want to embrace the recommendations.”
McKelvie investigated the concerns from March until August, when he finalized a draft of his findings. After more than 30 interviews with current and former Sheriff’s Office employees and additional witnesses, McKelvie found concerns in areas of: hiring and promotion, the Deputy Sheriff’s Merit Commission, duty and shift assignments, fear of retaliation, misuse of county resources, investigation interference and relationships.
His recommendations to address each area of concern are clearly stated in the report. McKelvie suggests re-establishing the merit commission, amending test preparation and administration, adjusting the promotions and discipline process, creating more avenues for communication, conducting a county audit and establishing a written memorandum of understanding with other law enforcement agencies.
County officials outlined an official response with responsible parties in regard to each area in need of improvement. Grabau said they plan to follow through with the changes.
“We wanted to make the report available so that we could make sure the public knows that we were following up and being responsive to those concerns and doing what we could to do right by them,” Grabau said. “We have started a review of county policies, specifically in the Sheriff’s Office, to see where we might need to make some changes.”
Grabau said it will be a longer, “more involved” process due to the mix of policies that are specific to law enforcement, plus the county-wide policies that have more general applications — like discipline processes, which the county has been working to amend for the past six months.
While Greg McPhee and Joe Dunbeck currently sit on the merit commission, Grabau said the county received Leo Lucy’s resignation more than two weeks ago. With the vacancy on the commission, Grabau said the county hopes to receive applications and fill that posting.
That commission will be part of the responsible parties when it comes to changing test preparation and administration, in which Rigby is accused of assisting potential lieutenants with test preparation.
McKelvie found several witnesses who believed they “would not have passed the (lieutenant’s) test had he not been provided with advance assistance.”
Rigby denied passing test questions or answers to any candidates, though he acknowledged having phone conversations with one candidate about the testing process.
The Wasatch County Council and manager, according to the county response, will be responsible for amending promotions and discipline, auditor recommendations, establishing a memorandum of understanding with outside agencies and county policies.
Finding that there are “serious morale issues” within the Sheriff’s Office due to “perceptions of favoritism” and fear of retaliation, McKelvie said in the report that he recognizes “the independence of the county sheriff as an elected official.”
“I have identified actions I believe the county can legally take in an effort to rectify apparent shortcomings in the operation of the WCSO,” the report states.
According to county management, Rigby and the Sheriff’s Office will be responsible for amending how shift schedules, assignments, promotions, administration and field operations are changed. McKelvie acknowledged that, though there are accusations against Rigby, the sheriff is ultimately responsible for making adjustments in his office.
According to Rigby, claims of fear of retaliation have primarily come from those who no longer work at the Sheriff’s Office. When asked if he felt there was a theme of fear of retaliation or a hostile environment in the office, he disagreed.
“Overall, we want to have a working environment where everyone at the Sheriff’s Office feels welcome and works well together and can bring up whatever thoughts or concerns there might be. Thus far, everything that I have seen from the employees is that that does exist, and that our current employees don’t feel that way,” Rigby said.
Still, McKelvie interviewed multiple individuals who expressed that they were worried about retaliation.
“A very common theme among witnesses I spoke with was fear of retaliation. I have already recounted in this report at least two instances in which retaliation was suspected or feared,” McKelvie wrote. “In addition, I am aware of, and have interviewed, at least two sworn officers who were placed on extended administrative leave, neither of whom are any longer employed at WCSO. Each of those leave placements came after those officers filed complaints or grievances against the office.”
Rigby also denied claims of absenteeism and misuse of county property. In the report, he is accused of being an “absent sheriff,” and is reportedly often at his second place of employment in Provo at Brigham Young University.
“I am at the office Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from all the regular business hours. So usually from a in the morning or nine in the morning until five or six, a lot of the evenings as well,” Rigby said.
He added that he has since stopped working at Brigham Young University. Though he could not recall an exact timeline, Rigby said it was “a month or two ago” that he ended his employment.
Both Grabau and Rigby said that, while some law enforcement relationships may call for improvement, the Sheriff’s Office has been investigating cases appropriately.
McKelvie’s report calls out three cases of interference, including the case that ended in the death of Patrick Hayes. Hayes was shot and killed at the Ross Creek entrance of Jordanelle State Park after a road rage incident with Greg Kyle DeBoer, 62. DeBoer is facing a single obstruction of justice charge.
Grabau clarified details of the investigation and accusations of interference, such as the Hayes case.
“We tried to add some context there that this was not the sheriff or the undersheriff acting rogue. This was something that they were doing in coordination with our attorney’s office,” Grabau said.
Rigby added that though he feels cases have been handled appropriately, he welcomes the idea of establishing a memorandum of understanding with other law enforcement agencies, such as the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation found that relationships with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office and Heber City Police Department have “deteriorated significantly under Sheriff Rigby’s administration, even to the extent that some joint task forces and other joint operations had been temporarily abandoned.”
Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever, Heber City Police Deputy Chief Branden Russell and Summit County Sheriff Frank Smith were all interviewed.
Rigby added he is picking up the pieces from the former sheriff. Rigby, an elected official, was elected to his second four-year term in 2022.
He said that the Sheriff’s Office will be establishing a new division: The Professional Standards Division. There, employees will have an appropriate avenue to “speak up” about any concerns they may have.
Grabau was in alignment with Rigby’s sentiment that officials are ready to embrace any potential changes.
“The main outcome we hope to see is to further strengthen both employees’ and the public’s perception and the reality of our Sheriff’s Office,” Grabau said.