Ex-county official charged

Salt Lake County's former chief financial officer was charged Tuesday in the wake of the "guzzlegate" controversy.

But the charges have nothing to do with the reason he resigned last spring.

Randy Joseph Allen resigned from the position of CFO in May after it was learned he used his county-issued vehicle twice to haul his boat to Lake Powell. He reportedly repaid the money.

Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom, however, has charged Allen, 44, with communications fraud, a class A misdemeanor. The charges were filed Tuesday after investigators discovered Allen used county gas cards for purchases that had nothing to do with his county job, according to documents filed in 3rd District Court.

The fraud stems from not using county-issued gas cards in an appropriate manner, Yocom said Tuesday night.

"There was miscommunications involved in the use of that card," DA spokesman Robert Stott said.

Allen, who now works as a fiscal analyst for the county's planning and development services and engineering divisions, referred questions to his attorney, Jim Bradshaw, who said all purchases will be proved legal.

Allen had two county vehicles between December 2002 and May 2004, court documents state. A gas card came with each vehicle.

But Allen did not turn in the gas card along with the first vehicle, court documents state. He used the first vehicle's gas card while he had the second vehicle and a new gas card.

Charges on the first vehicle's gas card during that time amounted to $184.63, court documents state.

As investigators looked at charges on the second gas card, they noticed on "multiple occasions" gas was purchased in excess of the vehicle's capacity of 22 1/2 gallons, court documents state.

Allen also used the gas card to fill up several days in a row, court documents state.

The amount from the fill-ups on consecutive days was about $189, court documents state.

"He was putting more gas in the car than it uses, which means he was using (the card) on some other vehicle. Or I don't know what he was doing with it. He couldn't be drinking it," Yocom said.

Bradshaw believes his client is a victim of an overzealous investigation. County Auditor Craig Sorensen and legal counsel Greg Curtis also were scrutinized in connection to vehicle and gas usage.

"This is a misdemeanor, and you're talking a small amount of money relative to the overall (mileage)," he said. "Sixty thousand miles of car use and tens of thousands of dollars of car use and they come up with less than $500 in irregularities."