Post by Logan on Feb 23, 2016 5:02:54 GMT -6
Ex-Utah County commissioner charged with posing as Mormon church official
Felony charges were filed Monday against a former Utah County commissioner and a prominent businessman who allegedly posed as authorities from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, even creating a phone account in an apostle's name, as part of a two-year scheme to defraud a construction company and two individuals of about $1.2 million.
In charges filed Monday in 3rd District Court, investigators wrote that former Utah County Commissioner Gary Jay Anderson, 68, of Springville, and Alan Dean McKee, 56, of Benjamin, impersonated LDS Church officials from 2011 to 2015 to entice investors in what they said was a plan to set up a rail line and industrial park on the church's land in Elberta.
Employees of the LDS Church's land management corporation acknowledged that they had discussed a rail service McKee had proposed, which would reach land the church owned in southern Utah County. McKee had been introduced to the church corporation's officials by Utah County commissioners, including Anderson, and McKee said he also had connections to potential users of the property, investigators wrote.
But those officials said the proposal stalled in 2013 as McKee had not followed through with contacts or any concrete plans, investigators wrote.
Read more: www.sltrib.com/news/3567685-155/ex-utah-county-commissioner-charged-with-posing
Felony charges were filed Monday against a former Utah County commissioner and a prominent businessman who allegedly posed as authorities from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, even creating a phone account in an apostle's name, as part of a two-year scheme to defraud a construction company and two individuals of about $1.2 million.
In charges filed Monday in 3rd District Court, investigators wrote that former Utah County Commissioner Gary Jay Anderson, 68, of Springville, and Alan Dean McKee, 56, of Benjamin, impersonated LDS Church officials from 2011 to 2015 to entice investors in what they said was a plan to set up a rail line and industrial park on the church's land in Elberta.
Employees of the LDS Church's land management corporation acknowledged that they had discussed a rail service McKee had proposed, which would reach land the church owned in southern Utah County. McKee had been introduced to the church corporation's officials by Utah County commissioners, including Anderson, and McKee said he also had connections to potential users of the property, investigators wrote.
But those officials said the proposal stalled in 2013 as McKee had not followed through with contacts or any concrete plans, investigators wrote.
Read more: www.sltrib.com/news/3567685-155/ex-utah-county-commissioner-charged-with-posing