Utah House majority leader Greg Curtis will not be charged in connection with the Salt Lake County "guzzle-gate" scandal.
District Attorney David Yocom sent a letter to Curtis Monday saying that his behavior "may have been unethical conduct, but it did not constitute prosecutable criminal conduct."
Last spring Curtis admitted to some personal use of his county vehicle as well as "double-dipping" — being reimbursed for mileage by the state as if he were driving a personal vehicle.
"He came forward and was pretty honest and forthright about the whole thing," Yocom told the Deseret Morning News. "Basically he stated the reasons why he thought he could accept (the state mileage reimbursement), and they were acceptable."
Curtis, Mayor Nancy Workman's legal counsel in 2003 and 2004, drove a county-owned Ford Explorer as part of his county pay package. He took an unpaid leave from the county during the state legislative session but continued to drive the Explorer to and from the Capitol, as well as for other state business. He applied for, and received, $767 in mileage reimbursement from the state (which he has since repaid).
When the story broke earlier this summer, Curtis said his applications for mileage reimbursement (done every two weeks during the legislative session) were an oversight, the product of long-standing habit developed during years in the Legislature. Nevertheless, under increasing public scrutiny and pressure, he resigned his position last June.
Curtis has been circumspect since resigning, declining to comment on various aspects of Yocom's "guzzle-gate" investigation since he himself was a subject of that investigation.
"I'm relieved," he said Monday by telephone from New York City, where he is a delegate to the Republican National Convention. "It's like a cloud has been hanging over my head for the past three months."
Yocom did conclude that Curtis should have forwarded the mileage reimbursement payments to Salt Lake County, as the owner of the vehicle, and required him to do so before the investigation is closed. Curtis said he would.
Curtis had already announced his intent to run for speaker of the House of Representatives when the scandal broke, and continues to be in the running. Even in the thick of the uproar over "guzzle-gate," he refused to back away from the race.
Former county auditor Craig Sorensen pled guilty last week to a third-degree felony, attempted misuse of public funds, in a plea bargain arrangement after it was revealed he had stolen gas on his county gas card. Prosecutors will recommend no jail time.
Another official, Randy Allen, the county's former chief financial officer, resigned from that job after using a county-issued vehicle for two personal trips to Lake Powell. Yocom said he will announce "soon" whether Allen will be charged.
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com