Former Utah County commissioner charged with impersonating LDS authorities

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Joel
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Former Utah County commissioner charged with impersonating LDS authorities

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Former Utah County commissioner charged with impersonating LDS authorities

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A former Utah County commissioner and another businessman were charged Monday in Third District Court for fraudulently posing as authorities with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Court documents state former commissioner Gary Anderson and Alan McKee, owner of Ophir Minerals and Aggregate LLC, defrauded Ames Construction and other contractors in an attempt to invest in a large industrial park in Elberta called the Tintic Rail Line.

According to the charging documents, Anderson, 68, and McKee, 56, commenced a scam in 2013 against Ames Construction and two individuals.

McKee reportedly submitted multiple letters to Ames Construction, fraudulently identifying himself as various individuals associated with the LDS Church. McKee used letterhead that appeared to be church letterhead to convince Ames Construction he was “in the midst of developing a large industrial project with the LDS Church near Elberta,” court records state.

Anderson made phone calls for McKee, posing as Gary Stevenson, the Presiding Bishop of the Church at the time, reports state.

Ames Construction provided McKee with hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments.

McKee also told one of his colleagues about the project, defrauding the man out of about $110,000, court reports state.

Anderson would also call McKee’s colleague posing as LDS church officials to defend McKee’s claims, the court documents state.

McKee spoke with another individual about the business venture and promised him he could purchase equipment from the bankruptcy sale of a company known as Associated Land Brokers. Investigators with the Attorney General’s Office discovered Associated Land Brokers is a fake company, court documents state.

“McKee and Anderson are both seen as pillars of the Utah County community,” the charging document states. “Despite this standing, McKee and Anderson participated in an ongoing and complex scheme … to enrich themselves at the expense of a large construction company and two individuals.”

Both McKee and Anderson have been charged with three second-degree felony counts of communications fraud and one second-degree felony count of maintaining a pattern of unlawful activity.

A warrant for their arrests was issued Monday, with a $500,000 cash-only bail.

Anderson currently works as an attorney and has represented many as a criminal defense attorney.

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Joel
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Former Utah County commissioner who posed as LDS Church official pleads guilty to fraud

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Former Utah County commissioner who posed as LDS Church official pleads guilty to fraud

A former Utah County commissioner pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of communications fraud for his role in a scam where he and a businessman posed as Mormon officials to dupe companies into investing in an industrial park and rail line.

As part of a plea deal, three other charges were dismissed against Gary Jay Anderson.

Communications fraud is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison but the plea agreement could allow Anderson to avoid incarceration.

The deal calls for Anderson to pay $162,606 in restitution. Prosecutors will recommend no more than six months in jail if Anderson comes up with $15,000 by the time he is sentenced Aug. 25, and no jail time if he produces $25,000 by then.

Prosecutors also are recommending that 3rd District Judge Vernice Trease place the 70-year-old Springville resident on probation for five years. In addition, Anderson, an attorney, would voluntarily surrender his law license as part of the deal.

Prosecutor Jacob Taylor said the victim who is owed the $162,606 is in favor of the deal.

Anderson and businessman Alan Dean McKee, 58, of Benjamin, each were charged in February 2016 with three counts of communications fraud and one count of engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, all second-degree felonies.

Charging documents allege Anderson and McKee impersonated 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 scheme that defrauded a construction company and two individuals out of about $1.26 million. The two defendants solicited the funds for what they claimed was a plan to set up a rail line and industrial park on the church's land in Elberta.

Prosecutors say the scam took place from 2012 to 2015. In his plea, Anderson admitted making phone calls to an investor in May 2015 while posing as another person.

Defense attorney Nathan Crane said Thursday that the scheme was driven by McKee from the beginning. He said Anderson was deceived by McKee and got involved only at the tail end, but also acknowledged his client "crossed a line."

Last August, McKee was charged with committing new crimes while free on $25,000 bail that were similar to the charges he already was facing. He pleaded guilty in the first case to one count of engaging in a pattern of illegal activity and guilty in the second case to theft, both second-degree felonies.

McKee was sentenced in November to two concurrent terms of 1 to 15 years in prison and later ordered to pay nearly $1,269,000 in restitution. Four other charges were dismissed as part of a plea bargain.

larsenb
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Re: Former Utah County commissioner charged with impersonating LDS authorities

Post by larsenb »

Affinity fraud strikes again in Utah. It's almost like clock-work. You can always count on some Utahn raising his ('her' too? Manly 'his') head out of the general population to try his luck at it. Unfortunately, we only see the cases that make the news or hit the docket.

Frankly, from just his picture, I don't think I would have been a good mark for him.

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