A federal grand jury has indicted Orem private investigator Phillip E. Naugle on charges he illegally wiretapped the telephones of two Utah County women.
The indictment, handed up Friday, also said Naugle had carried a sawed-off shotgun.Cheryl Naugle, Naugle's wife and partner in a private-investigative firm, purportedly infiltrated an Ogden polygamist sect whose leader faces child-sex charges.
The charge of wiretapping was unrelated to the Ogden probe.
The grand jury charged Naugle with two counts of illegal wiretapping in April and August of 1987 and one count of possessing an unregistered shotgun in February of 1989.
Authorities declined to say whether the indictment stemmed from a raid on the Naugles' firm, Search Investigation Inc., in February 1990. Cheryl Naugle is not named in the indictment.
Police said they started investigating the firm in 1988 after informants told them Naugle was using a letterhead from the Utah County constable's office to further his business.
In addition, former employees claimed Naugle ordered them to illegally wiretap and to trespass and photograph the inside of people's homes, prosecutors say.
Last year, 4th Circuit Judge Lynn Davis issued a search warrant authorizing seizure of their business and telephone records. Police seized 220 items from the Naugles.
The Naugles then brought a civil rights lawsuit against the Utah County sheriff's office in federal court.
Last January, U.S. District Judge David K. Winder ruled police properly detained the Naugles, and that portions of the search were illegal.
Last week, Cheryl Naugle said she and her husband could no longer conduct investigations because authorities had not returned business records.