OREM — The Utah County Attorney won’t be filing criminal charges against Orem’s mayor for making unauthorized withdrawals from his city retirement account, the attorney’s office announced Thursday.
The Orem City Council began looking into Mayor Richard Brunst in May after irregularities were discovered in forms he used to make withdrawals, according to a city spokesman, and in late July the council decided to send the case to the Orem Police Department.
Brunst has been accused of changing dates associated with his signature and the signatures of city employees, submitting the same signed forms for reimbursement requests multiple times, and submitting reimbursement requests more frequently than is permitted under his retirement plan.
Last month, the mayor acknowledged he had changed the dates on withdrawal forms over a period of three years and copied the same forms for multiple reimbursement requests, but said he had “no intention to do wrong.” He described his actions as “a mistake of convenience,” and said he was not aware that there was a yearly limit on distributions from his 401(k) account.
“I do not believe that this is a crime but rather a mistake on my part,” Brunst said in an apology statement in August.
The Utah County Attorney’s Office has declined to prosecute Brunst, the office said in a statement Thursday, saying there was no direct evidence to prove fraudulent intent beyond a reasonable doubt when it came to Brunst altering the dates.
“There is a reasonable, innocent explanation that changes were made simply for convenience,” the attorney’s office said, adding that there was no evidence to refute the explanation that Brunst gave to investigators and included in his apology letter.
The attorney’s office also said there was no proof Brunst was aware of the withdrawal limits in Orem city policy, noting that such withdrawals are available to Brunst under federal law at his age.