Ex-Eagle Mtn. mayor testifies

AMERICAN FORK — The former mayor of Eagle Mountain, on trial for misusing public money, testified Wednesday that his secretary created reimbursement forms and he just signed them — without stopping to verify if he had actually attended the meetings described.

"Isn't it true that (on) each of the mileage reimbursement forms, your signature is on those?" prosecutor Chad Grunander asked Brian Olsen, who faces seven felonies for misusing public funds.

"My signature is on those," Olsen agreed.

"(Did) you review each of those requests," Grunander asked.

"No, sir, I did not," Olsen said.

"But you should have known at the time you cashed the check that you had not attended at least one of the events that you were being paid back for as part of that check," Grunander said.

"I should have known," Olsen said. "I should have known that money I had received was for things I was not able to attend."

Olsen spent several hours on the stand Wednesday, testifying about his role as mayor of Eagle Mountain and what he had been told relative to policies and procedures dealing with travel reimbursements.

He testified that his executive assistant Angie Ferre would create mileage reimbursements based off an electronic calendar system where meetings and conferences were scheduled.

"When you traveled or when you stayed at a hotel or bought a meal, to get reimbursed for it, what was your understanding ... about what you were supposed to do?" asked defense attorney Ron Yengich.

"I was told I didn't have to worry about it, that my assistant would take care of it," Olsen said.

"Whose responsibility ultimately was that?" Yengich asked.

"Angie Ferre," he said.

"What was your responsibility?" Yengich asked

"I could have watched that a lot more closely, (rather) than just having it submitted in my behalf," he said.

Olsen said there was one day last September that he was handed a stack of reimbursements to sign and he, under request from staff, signed them all.

"Is it important to look at a document before you sign it, is it reasonable to expect that someone would read (a document)?" Grunander asked.

"That is reasonable to expect," Olsen said.