County auditor plays hooky

After it was revealed last week that Salt Lake County Auditor Craig Sorensen had purchased unusual amounts of gas on his county gas card, he turned in his county-owned Ford Expedition.

And disappeared — until the Deseret Morning News found him Friday afternoon where he logically might be, at home.

No one at county government headquarters had seen or heard from Sorensen for more than a week. Chief deputy auditor David Beck, with whom Sorensen works closely, had tried to contact his boss to no avail.

"It is uncommon for me not to be able to get hold of him," Beck said Friday.

Others in county government had also tried unsuccessfully to contact Sorensen. Auditor's office employees had noticed Sorensen's absence and commented on it, though employee Mike Reed said the conversations were subdued.

Sorensen didn't return numerous calls from the Deseret Morning News and other media outlets. County employees speculated that he had gone to his cabin or out of town somewhere.

In fact, during the time he has been incommunicado, Sorensen has been home, where the Deseret Morning News contacted him Friday afternoon.

The auditor was cordial but declined comment on the matter.

Sorensen is coming under increasing scrutiny for gas purchase records that don't add up with mileage on the two different county-owned Expeditions he has driven since 2001 (one, a 2001 model, in 2001-2002; the other, a 2003 Eddie Bauer model, in 2003-2004.)

A Deseret Morning News survey of Sorensen's records disclosed, by comparing gallons purchased with mileage reportedly driven, Sorensen would have had gas mileage between four and six miles per gallon if all the gas he bought with the card had gone into the Expeditions.

The U.S. Department of Energy rates the Expedition at 15 miles per gallon.

Sorensen's gas purchase records vary at times. On Nov. 7, 2002, for example, only 28 miles after his last reported fill-up, Sorensen's records say he bought 27 gallons of gas, equating to one mile per gallon.

The 2003 Ford Expedition has a 28-gallon tank capacity. Forty-seven of Sorensen's 119 fuel purchases in 2003, when he was driving that year's model, exceed that. In a gas purchase on Nov. 15, 2003, for example, he reported buying more than 33 gallons.

The 2001 model has a 30-gallon tank. In 2002, when Sorensen was driving that model, his records said he exceeded that capacity 57 times.