Former Daggett County Sheriff and Two Deputies Plead Guilty in Jail Scandal

by | Sep 13, 2017 | News | 0 comments

The former Daggett County Sheriff and two of the men involved in this year’s Daggett County Jail Scandal have entered pleas in Summit County’s 3rd District Court. After striking a deal with prosecutors, former Daggett County Sheriff Jerry Jorgensen pleaded guilty to misdemeanor official misconduct and as a result two other charges, failure of a sheriff to keep inmates safe and obstruction of justice, were dismissed. Jorgensen’s plea to official misconduct will be held in abeyance for 6 months and upon paying a fine and committing no new crimes can be dismissed. Former Lt. Benjamin Lail pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment which was a reduction from a count of felony aggravated assault. Lail was ordered to complete one year of court-ordered supervision. The man at the heart of the scandal, former deputy Joshua Cox, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, one count of transporting a weapon into a secure area, and one count of theft. Cox will be sentenced in November. According to a Deseret News report, Cox’s lawyer Loni DeLand implied after court that the scandal was blown out of proportion stating that “the inmates and the guards out there have a very close relationship” and the incidents involving his client were “fun and games.” Cases against former deputies Logan Walker and Rodrigo Toledo are ongoing.

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