Ephraim city official facing charges of fraud, fund misuse

MANTI — The longtime clerk-recorder of Ephraim has been charged with 42 counts of communication fraud and two counts of misuse of public funds for allegedly appropriating public funds to her own use.

Sanpete County attorney Ross Blackham filed the charges late Tuesday against Wendy M. Hansen, who has been the city's clerk-recorder for more than a decade. Blackham said the amount Hansen allegedly misappropriated exceeded $5,000, but he would not give a specific total.

Blackham said an investigation showed that Hansen "wrongfully handled" 42 checks issued between June 30, 2000, and Sept. 8, 2003. Most were Ephraim city checks. A few were checks issued by the Sanpete County landfill cooperative, which is operated by the Sanpete County and municipalities within the county. Besides her Ephraim duties, Hansen was secretary-treasurer for the landfill from the early 1990s until last summer. Still other checks had been issued by private entities doing business with Ephraim or with the landfill.

But in each case, an investigation indicated Hansen "appropriated the money or some part of the money to her own use without authority," Blackham said.

According to Blackham, members of the landfill board raised questions about the operation's accounts. An internal audit was conducted, after which the landfill "asked our office to assist." The charges grew out of that investigation, he said.

Communication fraud is a recently developed Utah statute making it a felony to obtain money, property or other benefits through deception, distortion or falsehood. The statute has become the primary tool for prosecuting cases involving misuse of public funds.

In another recent, highly publicized case in central Utah, Kimble Blackburn, a former official at the Snow College Richfield campus, pleaded guilty to more than 30 counts of communications fraud for stealing $157,000 from the college. He is serving a one-to-15-year prison sentence.

Hansen is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday. All of the 44 counts against her are second-degree felonies, which carry a maximum sentence of one to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Ephraim city manager Richard Anderson said Hansen had been placed on administrative leave.

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