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State agents are examining whether officers in the Millard County Sheriff's Office falsified reports and hid evidence after a detective's father was found with a rifle despite being a felon.
On July 30, 2008, deputies from the Millard County Sheriff's Office responded to a medical emergency at the home of Merlin Jackson west of Fillmore. A deputy saw a high-powered rifle in the home and prepared a report, said Jody Edwards, an Iron County sheriff's sergeant who investigated the cover-up allegations earlier this year.
Jackson, 76, is a registered sex offender and, as a felon, cannot possess a gun.
State investigators are determining whether his son, Millard County sheriff's Detective Bill Jackson, and Lt. Roger Young prevented the deputy from filing the report and instead falsified a report and hid the gun, Edwards said.
The case was reassigned before Edwards' investigation was complete, and he thinks the move has jeopardized the case.
"More time has passed," Edwards said. "More time to cover up. More time to make things go away."
The case has been transferred to the Utah State Bureau of Investigation. A spokesman with that agency did not reply to requests for comment Tuesday.
Merlin Jackson was convicted in 1997 of felony forcible sexual abuse. He received a one-year jail sentence and three years of probation, a court docket shows. He remains on the state's sex-offender registry.
Sometime after the 2008 visit to Merlin Jackson's house, Young entered a report in the Sheriff's Office electronic records system that was similar to the deputy's description, but it's not clear when he entered the report, Edwards said. A report entered months or weeks after an event could be a sign of a cover-up, he said.
Edwards said Young told a deputy that Bill Jackson went to his father's home and removed the rifle, which was not entered into evidence at the Millard County Sheriff's Office. Edwards said he does not know where the rifle is.
Questions about what happened at Merlin Jackson's home apparently resurfaced in October 2009, after a state wildlife officer found him on a family deer hunt in Beaver County. Merlin Jackson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor related to illegal hunting.
In April of this year, Merlin Jackson was charged in state court in Millard County with illegal possession of a firearm.
The second-degree felony carries a term of one to 15 years in prison. But on July 21, he entered a guilty plea in abeyance, which means he is free, and the case will be dismissed after a year if he commits no new crimes. He is to appear in court again in July 2011.
Millard County Deputy Attorney Patrick Finlinson declined to say if there was a problem with evidence in the case.
Finlinson said the plea was a result of "the amount of time that had elapsed."
"It was an odd situation, there's no doubt about that," added Finlinson.
During Edwards' investigation into the allegations against the deputies, Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker arrived unannounced in June at the Iron County Sheriff's Office in Cedar City. Edwards said Dekker wanted to know about the investigation.
The meeting began cordially, Edwards said, but he and Dekker grew angry as Dekker demanded to know which deputies Edwards had interviewed and complained Edwards was investigating additional allegations of corruption in the Millard County Sheriff's Office.
Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower on Tuesday said he does not remember Dekker getting angry. Dekker had been "out of the loop," Gower said, and had questions.
"He brought forth some genuine concerns," Gower said, though he declined to elaborate.
In an interview Tuesday, Edwards said he investigated corruption allegations in Millard County other than the Merlin Jackson case, going where the evidence took him.
Edwards declined Tuesday to specify what else he investigated, though he said he found there were two systems of record keeping at the Millard County Sheriff's Office.
"There's a standard reporting system, and one for friends and family of the Sheriff's Office," Edwards said.
The Iron County Attorney's Office has denied a request from The Salt Lake Tribune to read reports on the investigation, which Edwards called about three-quarters complete.
Dekker declined to comment Tuesday, citing the ongoing investigation. Young and Bill Jackson did not return messages left at their offices. Merlin Jackson could not be reached for comment, and his attorney did not return a message.
The day after Dekker's meeting with Edwards, Iron County's investigation stopped.
Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett said Millard County became concerned that Garrett's cousin is married to a Millard County sheriff's deputy. That's when the case moved to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Finlinson on Tuesday acknowledged the state probe, but declined to discuss details. Finlinson said any criminal charges would likely be prosecuted by the Utah Attorney General's Office.
"I don't know what they're going to turn up," Finlinson said. "It could be administrative ... Could be misdemeanors. Could be felonies."