When Dale Moroni Gibbons was acquitted of drug charges stemming from alleged late-night parties with teenage girls in his home, the former chief financial officer of Zions Bancorp sued the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, vowing to tell his story and expose the falsified police reports and other alleged lies by law enforcement.
Then, just last May, after three years of contentious court hearings and depositions of potential witnesses, Gibbons unexpectedly dropped the multimillion-dollar lawsuit he had filed in federal court.
Neither side is saying why the case was dropped, citing a gag order agreed to in the settlement.
But a review of more than a dozen depositions taken in preparation for trial — including the testimonies of five young women — reveals details unfavorable to Gibbons's claims and raises some questions about the prosecution of Gibbons.
Instead of exposing corrupt law enforcement tactics, much of the testimony paints a portrait of constant partying and drug use by Gibbons and his acquaintances, many of them young females, from about 1998 until the time of his arrest on June 21, 2001. Much of it backs up police claims that the buttoned-down banker lived a double life of respected financial whiz by day for a venerable financial institution rooted in Utah's Mormon pioneer past and a partying sugar-daddy at night to people half his age to whom he offered his home and illegal drugs.
So, did Gibbons see his lawsuit turning against him and cut his losses while he could? Those involved in the case aren't saying, saying they are bound by the gag order.
One of his current attorneys, Mark James, says his client would like to put the whole episode behind him and declined further comment.
The depositions also raise some questions for the prosecution; particularly, why didn't that same testimony and evidence against Gibbons surface during the criminal investigation?
District Attorney David Yocom said his people put on the best case they could. Indeed, defense attorney and former prosecutor Greg Skordas, who was not part of either Gibbons' criminal or civil proceedings, said from what he could recall prosecutors were "truly stunned" they lost.
'Party popper'
Following his acquittal in 2002, Kristine Rogers, one of Gibbons' defense attorneys, proclaimed: "He does not use drugs."
And he said as much during a three-day deposition in August 2004.
"So it's your testimony that you never used cocaine?" asked John Soltis, civil litigation director for the district attorney's office.
"Yeah," Gibbons replied.
"Were you ever present when cocaine was used?" he asked.
"Not to my knowledge," Gibbons replied.
"Did you ever assist anyone in buying cocaine or drugs?" asked Soltis.
"No," Gibbons said.
However, the depositions of the young women were consistent in their allegations of wild parties at Gibbons' Holladay home, involving cocaine and Ecstasy use with the former Zions executive. Some said Gibbons introduced them to drugs.
"Well, he just put it on the counter and he got his cards out, like a credit card or something, and smashed it up. Got a razor blade, cut it into lines and got like a straw and handed it to me and (another girl) each, and we just sniffed lines of coke off the bathroom counter," testified A.R., who was a 17-year-old high school junior in 2000 when she befriended Gibbons.
Another woman, H.R., was 19 when she met Gibbons for the first time in 2000. In deposition testimony she referred to him as the "party popper," or the one everyone waited for to get a party started.
"Cocaine all over the place. He was doing up lines, and rocks were flying all over the room, and we started doing cocaine," she said.
Gibbons, H.R. and others would cut lines of cocaine on top of CD cases and snort the drugs with a rolled up $100 bill, she said.
One of H.R.'s friends, another 19-year-old girl with the initials K.F., testified she attended several parties at Gibbons' house, where drugs were never in short supply.
"And within that week I was back and forth at Dale's almost every day doing drugs. Ecstasy with him. I did Ketamine a couple of times with him. Coke," she testified. "Lots of drugs. It seemed like whenever I was there there were lots of drugs. That's where you went for the drugs . . . Cocaine, Ecstasy, Ketamine, marijuana and some people were doing meth as well. There was a lot going on there."
Even Gibbons' hair stylist, who also cleaned his house for extra money between 2000 and 2001, testified that evidence of drug activity was plentiful.
"The paraphernalia I observed was always in his master bedroom. I saw burnt and bent spoons and lighters and steel wool, or something like that, that was burnt. Co2 cartridges, everything. In his yard, in every room, everywhere," she said.
From the back of his limousine to area nightclubs, A.R. said she used cocaine with Gibbons "probably 50 times" during the summer of 2000.
Prosecutors also questioned witnesses about the times he allegedly took his underage daughter to clubs and bought her drinks.
C.A. said she once went to a club with Gibbons and his 15-year-old daughter.
"We got so drunk. He said, 'You two can't get that drunk ever again.' He didn't want her to get that drunk ever again. I remember him looking after her and everything because she was just — we were just plastered," she said.
Double life?
As the alleged parties at Gibbons' house continued, sheriff's deputies became familiar with the home in the upscale Holladay neighborhood.
According to court documents, deputies from the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office responded to 13 calls at Gibbons' home between August 1998 until the time of his arrest. Seven of those calls were from neighbors complaining of the loud noise from his parties, documents state.
But the call that brought all of the allegations out into the open was one made to 911 on June 11, 2001. After scaling the locked fence to gain access to Gibbons' multimillion dollar home, emergency responders found a partially clothed young woman unresponsive in Gibbons' bed. Though not initially reported, paramedics quickly discovered Gibbons' 15-year-old daughter in another bedroom in a similar state.
In the absence of any outward signs of trauma, emergency personnel immediately suspected the females had consumed a substance of some type, possibly the popular club drug GHB.
In deposition testimony, the first responders described an unusual scene — a master bedroom in "disarray" with clothing and "adult entertainment video covers" on the floor and a tripod set up near the bed, at least two sets of identification in the daughter's bedroom with different names and birthdates, sexual materials throughout the home and an uncooperative homeowner who was "aggravated and in an altered mental capacity."
"This wasn't a typical run-of-the-mill alcohol overdose or overdose of — a drug overdose or anything like that," said Rosalie Kiddle, an EMT with Gold Cross Ambulance at the time. "It was different. It felt different. And it seemed like there were things that people just weren't telling us."
One paramedic later testified that the call caused plenty of talk around the fire station, as the circumstances were "fairly odd for the Holladay area."
Kiddle agreed. "We saw stuff like this, double overdoses, all the time in crack houses in downtown Salt Lake or on the west side, but stuff like this we just didn't see on the east side."
Ten days after the 911 call, police returned to Gibbons' home with an arrest warrant in hand. He was later charged in Salt Lake's 3rd District Court with possession of methamphetamine, dealing in materials harmful to a minor and child endangerment, all third-degree felonies.
The criminal charges against Gibbons became public through a late Friday afternoon news conference, with Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Darren Carr describing the purported double life being led by the button-down banker. Carr detailed a closet filled with conservative business suits on one side and silk party shirts on the other.
As police used the media event to seek additional information against Gibbons, asking anyone who may have attended parties at Gibbons' home in the past year to call Carr, Gibbons sat in the Salt Lake County Jail with a $150,000 bail order.
The then 41-year-old Gibbons quickly bailed out of jail and less than one week later stepped down from his $2.1 million per year job with Zions.
In a series of starts and stops, the case worked its way through the court system for the next year. Gibbons hired and fired defense attorneys; at one point he was even represented by Robert Shapiro of O.J. Simpson fame. And then, just two weeks before trial began, prosecutors dismissed the child endangerment charge, which alleged Gibbons exposed his daughter to controlled substances and took the 15-year-old girl to nightclubs where drugs and alcohol were sold.
After a short, three-day trial, jurors on June 20, 2002, acquitted Gibbons of the remaining two charges.
Rogers, Gibbons' attorney, credited a crime scene video taken by police as evidence that helped her client win acquittal. Detectives testified they saw sexually explicit materials openly visible throughout the house including his daughter's bedroom. But before their search on June 21, 2001, police videotaped Gibbons' house. And when Rogers had Gibbons walk jurors through the video again in court, no such magazines, DVDs or videotapes could be seen.
The five young women that seemingly provided such damaging testimony during the civil proceedings apparently didn't come forth until after Gibbons was acquitted from his criminal trial.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said there was very little about the civil suit it could talk about because of the settlement agreement including how the girls were discovered.
"All we can say is it was settled and no money was paid," Yocom said.
As for the criminal case, Yocom said sometimes that's just the way things go.
"We put on the evidence we had at the time. Obviously the jury didn't think there was sufficient evidence to convict," he said. "My prosecutors put on the best case we had at the time . . . It happens all the time. It's the name of the game. We put on what we had. A lot of times in criminal cases things happen (such as) witnesses are not available."
Skordas noted the prosecution had a tough task in front of them from the start. It's not easy, he said, to convince a jury that an allegedly upstanding citizen with a clean criminal record could be involved in such behavior.
"You never know what (evidence) a jury is lacking (for a conviction)," he said.
The Deseret Morning News attempted to contact some of the jurors from the case. All who were contacted, however, including the jury foreman, declined comment for the story.
Reopening wounds
In June 2002, one week before the start of the criminal trial, Gibbons filed a $6 million civil lawsuit enumerating 51 instances in which he believed he was defamed by 21 police officers and prosecutors.
But the case seemed to quickly lose steam. During a hearing on Nov. 15, 2004, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell announced he was leaning toward granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants on all claims while also noting he found Gibbons' arguments to be largely unpersuasive.
Then, unexpectedly, Gibbons dropped his suit and walked away without receiving a dime.
Skordas said in many cases it's natural for a person who wins acquittal during a criminal trial to want to strike out at those who brought him to trial rather than just be happy and walk away.
"They want someone to be responsible for that. They want to be compensated for that. They want someone to pay for that," he said. "I usually advise my clients to take your lumps and move forward with your life."
What many defendants don't realize is how the wounds can be reopened again during a civil proceeding, he said.
An interesting turn in the civil case came on Aug. 5, 2004, as prosecutors were deposing Gibbons and asking him about the emotional distress he had allegedly suffered and about his history of depression.
As Gibbons was about to talk about anti-depressants that had been prescribed to him prior to his arrest, his attorneys called for a break to speak to their client. When the hearing resumed defense attorney Jeffrey Robinson announced, "Mr. Gibbons will withdraw his claim for emotional distress."
"Well, he has one cause of action in the complaint specifically for intentional infliction of emotional distress. In virtually every other cause of action there's a claim stated that he experienced depression, anguish, anxiety," Deputy District Attorney Don Hansen said.
"Correct. And what I'm telling you is he is withdrawing any claim for emotional distress, so that's no longer an issue," Robinson replied.
Skordas said because Gibbons did not suffer any property damage or bodily injury during his arrest, emotional distress was a huge part of his suit.
"If you're going to claim emotional distress, the other side is allowed to look at other things in your life that may have caused distress. It opens you up to find out if there are other factors," he said. "(Gibbons) may not have wanted to open up that part of his life."
After his acquittal, Gibbons became the chief financial officer at Las Vegas-based Western Alliance Bancorporation in May 2003, according to the bank's Web site. Western Alliance is the parent company of BankWest of Nevada and Alliance Bank of Arizona, Torrey Pines Bank, Miller/Russell & Associates and Premier Trust. He also became an executive vice president of BankWest of Nevada in July 2004.
An article in the April 29 edition of the Las Vegas Sun said that Las Vegas-based Western Alliance Bancorporation had filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public stock offering.
It was just a couple of weeks later that prosecutors in the civil case announced that all claims in the lawsuit had been, "fully and finally settled . . . without payment of money."
The ordeal of both the criminal and civil trials has apparently done little to affect Gibbons' financial wizardry. In July, his new company announced second-quarter earnings of $6.6 million. It was Western Alliance's first reporting period as a public company. An announcement on third-quarter earnings is expected Wednesday.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com