PROVO — Drug charges were dropped Friday against a former Utah County Jail officer after a 4th District Court judge ruled that agents with the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force entrapped her into accepting drugs to be smuggled into the county jail for an inmate.
The dismissal followed Judge Ray Harding Jr.'s review of audio tapes from a sting operation involving the agents and Melissa Sprague.
Harding ruled undercover agents tried to mislead Sprague into thinking she would be taking creatine, a bodybuilding supplement, into the jail when in fact they gave her a vial of "wet methamphetamine." Harding also ruled that agents "intimidated" Sprague into accepting the vial and did not allow sufficient time before closing in to arrest her to validate that she had willingly agreed to smuggle the item.
Sprague was charged with felony drug possession and one misdemeanor count of possessing drug paraphernalia in a drug-free zone after being arrested last June.
Prosecutors said the sting was set up after a jail informant told police a county jail officer was smuggling items to an inmate and may have been asked to smuggle drugs.
Sprague's attorney acknowledged in court earlier this month that his client had struck a friendship with inmate Frank "Lucky" Juliano, who has a criminal history of drug possession and theft. Weight said Sprague smuggled cookies and candy for Juliano. He acknowledged on Monday that Sprauge and Juliano had a limited romantic relationship.
"The relationship they had was one of passing back and forth notes and passing goodies," Weight told the Deseret News. "I think they got involved in a little kissy, huggy stuff on one or two occasions but nothing more than that."
In his ruling, Harding also noted that following her arrest, Sprague told police Juliano had asked her to smuggle drugs into the jail on one occasion but that she had refused.
Agents posing as friends of Juliano used a jail informant to arrange a meeting with Sprague last year. According to a transcript of a cell phone conversation between an agent and Sprague, she agreed to meet the undercover agent to pick up a bodybuilding supplement for Juliano.
Agent: "And just make sure you're alone, OK?"
Sprague: "Now this is just creatine, isn't it?"
Agent: "Huh?"
Sprague: "He told me I was just picking up some creatine stuff."
Agent: "Yeah, that's what you're doing."
Sprague: "Oh, OK, I just want to make sure."
Agent: "I'll, uh — what did you think?"
Sprague: "What?"
Agent: "Did you think it was something else?"
Sprague: "Oh, no. Just when you said, 'Make sure you're alone.' "
Agent: "Yeah. OK, um — we'll see you then."
In his ruling, Harding noted that in the recording of the ensuing meeting, the agent didn't tell Sprague about the drug until the last minute, then pressured her to accept the drug, finally leaving it on the passenger seat of Sprague's car before getting out. Moments later, police moved in for the arrest.
The agent, "kept the defendant (Sprague) ignorant of what was really going on," Harding wrote. "Whatever her intentions, this court finds that placed in this situation by the police, confronted by a stranger demanding her acceptance of the drugs, the defendant acted out of pressure to escape."
Throughout court proceedings, Sprague has denied any intention to smuggle drugs into the jail.
Weight said Monday that his client is pleased with the ruling.
"It means that she's very happy. It means that what we believed from the beginning was true: that she had no intention to commit a criminal act," Weight said. When asked if Harding's ruling will pave the way for a civil suit against Utah County, Weight said Utah law gives special immunity to law enforcement to do their job. In this case, the judge found agents had stepped over the line, but it hardly means it is grounds for a lawsuit, Weight said.
Sprague has refused to comment to the media about the case. Sprague did not respond to a request for an interview, forwarded by her attorney on Monday.
Utah County deputy attorney Dave Clark said he was surprised by Harding's ruling but stands by the actions of the agents.
"Mrs. Sprague was not induced," into accepting the drugs, Clark said Tuesday morning. The state's position, Clark said, is that it was Juliano, not the agents, who devised the plan to bring drugs into the jail and that Sprague had been aware of his plans.
Utah law gives prosecutors 30 days to file an appeal with the Utah Court of Appeals.
Clark said an appeal will be filed within the next few weeks and that he has asked the Utah Attorney General's Office for help.
E-MAIL: gfattah@desnews.com