Ex-Utah mayor facing 7 felony counts

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Utah County prosecutors Monday filed seven third-degree felony counts of misuse of public funds against Brian Olsen, the controversial Eagle Mountain mayor who abruptly resigned Friday.

Olsen is accused of "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly appropriat(ing) public monies to his own use or benefit or to the use or benefit of another without authority of law," according to charges filed in 4th District Court.

The Utah County Attorney's Office began scrutinizing Olsen's financial records three weeks ago after city employees raised concerns about some of Olsen's travel reimbursement requests.

Olsen, who gained notoriety earlier this year for admitting to lying about having a master's degree in public administration, allegedly requested advance travel money and to be reimbursed for travel to meetings and conferences that he did not attend or that never took place.

"There are people in the city who were concerned about what they were seeing," said Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson.

"In our opinion, they were accurate about the inappropriateness of what was going on."

The charges filed against Olsen list Oct. 10, Feb. 22, Sept. 15, Aug. 8, Aug. 3, Sept. 5 and July 27 as dates that Olsen's alleged improprieties took place. Chad Grunander, the deputy Utah County attorney assigned to the case, declined to elaborate on the charges.

Although the county attorney's office didn't say how much money Olsen is accused of taking, Bryson said each third-degree felony charge could be attached to the alleged misuse of up to $5,000. Second degree felony charges would apply to amounts over $5,000.

If found guilty, Olsen could face up to five years in prison for each count. Olsen has been scheduled to appear in 4th District Court on Nov. 17 at 8:30 a.m.

Olsen did not return calls for comment on Monday.

"I've never charged an elected official with this particular crime," said Bryson. "We think this is a very straightforward case. Of course, if you charge an elected official like this, it draws media attention, but we're trying to handle this as we would with anybody else."

Eagle Mountain City Councilwoman Heather Jackson said she and Councilman David Lifferth received information about Olsen's alleged misuse of city money shortly before Olsen resigned.

"The second we received evidence, prior to the charges filed (Monday), we moved forward in the appropriate responses by making sure evidence was turned into the attorney's office," Jackson said. "We as a city cannot tolerate abuse of power by any elected official. There's no exception to that, for anyone."