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Show Wasatch County to prosecute fired Heber City officials by Dave Adler The Wasatch County attorney's office said Wednesday it will file criminal charges today in Utah's Eighth Circuit Court against former Heber City Police Chief Bobby Nelson, and his brother, Don, an animal control officer, who were dismissed for cause on Feb. 28 by the Heber City Council. Wendy Hufnagle, Wasatch County deputy attorney, told the Park Record Wednesday that she was "still reviewing the record to fully determine" what charges she would file. But she said she would "at least prosecute for .contributing alcohol to minors and carrying open containers of alcohol in police vehicles. "In view of the fact that the conduct of the Nelson brothers was sufficiently serious and that they have not abided by our agreement (Feb. 25), we find it necessary to bring this case up for public prosecution," Hufnagle said. "We've got the evidence and the case needs to be tried," she said. "The community needs to know the truth about the allegations that have been made. So much has been said . We need to put this matter to rest." The decision to prosecute was not .made until the office received confirmation that the Nelson brothers bro-thers had formally initiated an appeal of their dismissal, according to Hufnagle. Their appeal to the Heber City Employees Appeals Board, which was filed by their attorney, Fred Wasilewski, with Heber City Attorney John L. Chidester on April 12, "negated our agreement not to prosecute them," said Hufnagle. In a Feb. 25 agreement between the Nelson brothers and Wasatch County Attorney Joseph E. Tesch, it was stipulated that the Nelsons would not contest or appeal their dismissal by the Heber City Council and, in return, Tesch would refrain from prosecuting the Nelsons for alleged illegal behavior. The Nelson brothers were officially official-ly dismissed by the Heber City Council on Feb. 28. The council cited numerous allegations of unlawful behavior on the part of the Nelsons, compiled in a six-week investigation by Wasatch County Sheriff, Mike Spanos. Alleged incidents of illegal activities, activi-ties, according to the Feb. 25 agreement, included "driving while intoxicated, public intoxication, providing pro-viding alcohol to minors, carrying open containers of alcohol in vehicles and other allegations which might rather broadly be characterized as incidents of contributing to the delinquency of minors, disorderly conduct, and sexually-oriented misbehavior mis-behavior towards young women." Although the Nelsons maintained their innocence of these allegations, they signed the settlement agreement. agree-ment. Bobby Nelson explained that he and his brother believed that they were going to be fired by the Heber City Council, as the agreement indicated, "and so I thought,, why go to court if I'm going to lose my job anyway. What's the use of fighting?" fight-ing?" Nelson said he later learned that the agreement was "an outright lie," because the council had not decided on any action with respect to the Nelsons. That was confirmed by Scott Wright, city councilman, on March 6. Nelson said that fact "made all the difference in the world to me. I'd have gone to court to fight the dismissal if I thought I had a chance," he said. Since Nelson believed he was innocent of the allegations, and that he was no longer bound by the Feb. 25 agreement because "the lie" had broken the agreement, he decided to appeal. On April 19, the Nelson's attorney, Wasilewski, notified Chidester Chide-ster of his client's decision to appeal their dismissal to the city's Employees Em-ployees Appeals Board. "I sent a letter to Chidester which asked for a bill of particulars, of specific charges levied against my clients," said Wasilewski. "It was basically a discovery request." Chidester confirmed that he had received the letter and that "I am now in the process of complying with the request." City Councilman Wright said that the Heber City Council would appoint five persons to the appeals board. "We created the appeals board about three years ago," said Wright. "But until now we haven't had to use it." Wasilewski said he was waiting to hear from the board as to when his clients' hearing might be scheduled. Wright said he "has no idea when that might be. It'll depend on when Wasilewski is ready." Wasilewski said he is waiting for Chidester to send him "the rest of the' informations I 'requested.' Chidester said only that "I'm complying with his request and will finish it soon." Wasilewski said that he is seeking "reinstatement with back pay" for his clients. He said that the next step in the appeals process, after a hearing with the board of appeals, is an appeal to the city council. He said that if his clients are not reinstated, he might seek relief in court. The Heber City Council is currently running an advertisement in various newspapers which announces an-nounces a vacancy for a police chief. Asked if this meant it was unlikely that the council would reinstate the Nelsons, Wright would say only, "We'll have to wait and see." |