The state Division of Investigations has been asked to prepare a report on allegations that Rep. Sara Eubank, D-Holladay, improperly secured crime victims reparations monies on behalf of a rape victim. But state officials emphatically deny there is any criminal investigation under way, as was reported in the Salt Lake Tribune.
"It is not a criminal investigation," said Department of Public Safety spokesman Gary Whitney. "We have been asked by the attorney general to conduct interviews and gather up the facts, and the attorney general will decide where to go from there. There are so many sides to the story that everyone felt we needed review independent from anyone who might be doing the prosecuting."Eubank, the owner of an employee-management firm, has been soundly criticized after firing an employee several days after she had been raped. Eubank says she fired the woman because of incompetence, but she subsequently wrote a letter on the woman's behalf to assist her in getting money set aside for victims of crime.
In the letter, Eubank said the trauma from the rape made it impossible for the woman to "maintain the level of productivity" required of her. The woman later sued Eubank in federal court, charging her firing was improper and in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Whitney said the Crime Victims Reparations Office went to the attorney general with a copy of Eubank's letter. The attorney general's office thought the matter ought to be looked into further and asked the Department of Public Safety to pursue the matter.
About $3,000 was paid to the woman from the crime victims fund for lost wages.