VERNAL — The Uintah County Attorney's office has filed eight second-degree felony counts of communications fraud and five felony charges in connection with alleged ethics violations against SueAnn Bilbey, head curator of the Utah Field House of Natural History in Vernal.
Bilbey — who had been placed on administrative leave last month during a criminal probe involving fossils at the state museum — was fired from her position last week following an investigation by the Department of Natural Resources and Bureau of Land Management.
As the head curator for the museum, Bilbey was employed by the state to handle fossil finds submitted by scientists. At the same time, for the past 11 years she and her husband, Evan Hall, also operated a private business, Uinta Paleontological Association Inc., which conducts surveys on public land for government and businesses to make sure archaeological and paleontological resources are not damaged or destroyed by development.
When fossils are found, they are stored or "curated" at a museum, which receives a fee for that storage.
The charges stem from alleged conflict-of-interest violations over work Bilbey and Hall have done, even though Bilbey maintains she had clearance from her supervisors and had filed a potential conflict-of-interest statement with the DNR.
The investigation apparently began by centering on a memorandum of understanding between Uinta Paleo and the Field House of Natural History for storing a 90 percent complete and very rare "hamplocamphosaur."
Bilbey and Hall's small business needed more room and resources to store the exciting dinosaur find, one of only four ever found and the first in 50 years, so they arranged to use the museum and its facilities.
As part of the typical agreement in cases such cases, money paid by the pipeline company to Uinta Paleo to exhume the historic find in 1999 during construction of a liquid petroleum pipeline outside of Vernal should have been passed through to the museum.
Because Bilbey and Hall had not completed the restoration work, they did not immediately pay the Field House the $56,000 storage fee they apparently owed. The money was paid several months later when the museum asked to be paid even though preparation work had not been completed.
Bilbey's attorney Gregory Skordas, said the case is a travesty. "The charges are tragic, misguided and they shouldn't have been filed." Skordas said Uintah County Attorney JoAnn Stringham is "an extremely skilled prosecutor" but has been misled by state investigators who allegedly failed to advise Bilbey of her constitutional rights during rounds of questioning and searched her home without a search warrant.
"SueAnn is not a criminal. She never took anyone's money or intended to defraud. She never diverted that money and she handled it just the way she was supposed to . . . she certainly didn't steal anything. She never abused her public office either. It's sad that we had to put someone through this."
Skordas said Bilbey is appealing her termination and wants her criminal case heard before a jury.
Bilbey declined comment on the advice of her attorney. Her husband also declined comment other than to say that his wife did nothing wrong in the matter.
Stringham could not be reached for comment. DNR officials also will not comment on the case.
Skordas said that his client has been summoned to appear in court on July 28 in Vernal for her initial appearance.
Contributing: The Associated Press
E-mail: state@desnews.com