Federal prosecutors have filed a criminal charge against a former assistant Utah attorney general and Department of Public Safety employee, accusing him of working for both the state and the feds and lying about it.

Richard David Wyss was charged in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City last week with a single count of making a false statement. Federal prosecutors said Wyss was an assistant Utah attorney general who then went to work as legal counsel and budget director for the Department of Public Safety. From September 2002 until October 2007, Wyss also worked as legal counsel to the Transportation Security Administration.

"Defendant Wyss misrepresented to a TSA ethics attorney that he was only working 18 to 22 hours per week, mostly during evenings and weekends; defendant Wyss submitted copies of time sheets to a TSA supervisor falsely representing that he worked only part-time at DPS," assistant U.S. attorney Robert Lund wrote in charging documents.

Wyss was also accused of understating his DPS salary to the TSA to create the impression he worked only part time, the charging documents said.

"After misrepresenting to TSA that he would terminate his employment with DPS, defendant Wyss continued to work at DPS for a period of 2 1/2 years," Lund wrote.

A call to Wyss' attorney, Rodney Snow, was not returned Thursday. Court records show a hearing, where it is anticipated he will change his plea, has been scheduled for Dec. 1. A federal false statement charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Wyss answered to superiors in Washington, D.C., and left the local TSA office in October 2007, said agency spokesman Dwayne Baird. The Utah Department of Public Safety said Wyss worked for them from September 2003 until March 2008, making more than $102,000 per year.

"We terminated him for misuse of a computer, misuse of a state vehicle and misrepresentation of time," DPS spokesman Jeff Nigbur said Thursday.

He would not go into details about the termination, but said Wyss has a pending case with the agency's career service review board to appeal his firing. Nigbur also would not say who initiated their investigation, but confirmed that it was ongoing.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah declined to comment on the case or say if anyone else may be charged in connection with it. The Utah Attorney General's Office also had no comment.

---

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com