Carbon County Sheriff James Cordova has been charged with felony counts of theft and misuse of public funds.
Court documents filed by the Utah Attorney General’s office accuse Sheriff Cordova of using a county trailer to move his personal belongings to a home in St. George and with charging two thousand dollars’ worth of gasoline to a county credit card.
Deputy County Attorney Christian Bryner says there’s also a civil investigation underway as to whether Cordova is still eligible to hold an elected office in Carbon County.
“We have not ever made a formal determination that he is not a resident of the county, that he doesn’t live here," Bryner tells KUER. "We did have a meeting with him, a public meeting where we looked into those issues and we continued investigating after that time, but no formal action’s been taken on that matter.”
Now that criminal charges have been filed, Bryner says Sheriff Cordova may be put on administrative leave. His term expires at the end of December.
Cordova’s attorney did not respond to KUER’s request for comment.