Youth offenders from the urban Wasatch Front are not hurting rural eastern Utah, state auditors have found.
At the request of Rep. Beverly Evans, R-Altamont, state auditors studied the impact of urban youths on Uintah and Duchesne counties.Concerned school officials, law enforcement and juvenile court personnel were interviewed, according to state Auditor General Wayne L. Welsh. The investigation, called a "review," was not a full-blown audit but rather a special project that took less than 100 hours to complete, he said.
When the review was conducted in January, only two youths from the Wasatch Front were placed in Uintah Basin homes by the Department of Youth Corrections.
Welsh said the placements were appropriate, and his office was unable to document any problems because of the placement.
"We reviewed the case files for both of these youths, and neither one was in any trouble with the law or caused any problems in the community while in the Uintah Basin," he said in a letter to Evans.
Darrell Piepgrass, Youth Corrections director of Region III, which includes Uintah and Duchesne counties, agrees there haven't been any impacts on the community.
"There hasn't been a problem," Piepgrass said, adding he's trying to get more providers in the area.
The review found that 50 percent of youths in custody were placed outside of their home county. In fact, eight children from the Uintah Basin were placed in programs along the Wasatch Front in January.
The review also looked at the placement of abused and neglected children into Uintah Basin homes by the state Division of Child and Family Services. In January, 11 children from Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties were placed in Uintah Basin group and foster homes. At the same time, 16 children from the Uintah Basin were placed in homes along the Wasatch Front.
However, auditors did find some of the Uintah Basin group and proctor home operators were not in compliance with their contracts.
Some training records were incomplete and the training requirements unfulfilled when an auditor and a licensing specialist from the Office of Licensing visited several providers in the Uintah Basin.
"This appeared to be the result of a lack of communication with the provider's main office in the Wasatch Front rather than an intentional omission," Welsh said in the letter.
The Office of Licensing is reviewing all criminal background screenings of Uintah Basin providers.