Nick Morgan was ordered Thursday to leave his central-valley office, and his computer access was frozen.

Details on the allegations were not divulged, though Public Works Director John Patterson said "they are numerous and they are serious."

The Salt Lake Tribune has learned the probe is focusing on accusations of falsified travel records and inappropriate personal use of county computers and staffers.

Morgan denies any wrongdoing, and says he is not worried about scrutiny of his travel or his computer. "Be my guest," he said. "There's nothing there."

Morgan says the real question surrounds his temporary replacement Jason Godfrey - the brother of Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey, whom Patterson worked for before joining Salt Lake County government.

"I think [Patterson] wants to get him in and have him run the fleet," Morgan said. "This nepotism thing - that exactly flies in the face of it, I'd say."

Patterson says no way.

"It disappoints me that Nick would try to deflect the attention onto someone else," said Patterson, while praising Jason Godfrey for his help in fixing the county's fleet operation.

Last December, a citizens review panel issued an explosive report detailing myriad problems with the county's vehicle program, including that the 2,200-vehicle division was overfunded by $9 million. The study was ordered by then-Mayor Nancy Workman following the resignation of Auditor Craig Sorensen, who admitted stealing gas with his county credit card.

"We were not asked to look at problems with individuals in our report. That's not to say they didn't arise," said panel member Gil Miller, who recalled the panel questioning the fleet manager.

Morgan says he has taken work trips on the county dime this spring to Fresno, Calif.; Dallas; and Palm Springs, Calif. Each time, he insists, receipts were turned in to his secretary for reimbursement.

"If there's anything wrong, it's clerical," he said. "It's not more than that."

But Morgan acknowledges spending some office time - "you don't sit in a vacuum" - working on a legal appeal that was recently denied by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court in Denver.

Morgan was fired from the Utah Department of Corrections in 1996 for interfering with hiring and purchasing processes. He sued the state for violating due process less than a year later, roughly the same time he was hired by the county as fleet manager.

Fleet employee Linda Day recalls notarizing numerous documents from Morgan that showed his home address, but could not say whether they were legal documents. "I didn't know what it was for," she said.

In order to check records, Deputy District Attorney Valerie Wilde says control of fleet management's computer server "was flipped" to the county's internal-services department Thursday.

"That way, anything we want on that server, we can retrieve," Wilde said. "We're hoping to be done in about three weeks."

Morgan, who is prohibited from talking to fleet employees or going to the County Government Center at 2100 South and State Street in the interim, has requested representation by a county-employee union.

Meanwhile, Patterson said new findings from an internal fleet probe will be presented next week. They were largely compiled by Godfrey, who was hired by Patterson two months ago.

"[Godfrey] became essentially, the staff of the fleet task force," Patterson said.

Morgan maintains Godfrey is a disruptive presence, who is often rude to his staff while checking invoices.

"It's scary the way John [Patterson] lets him run wild the way he does," Morgan said.

For his part, Godfrey insists Morgan's removal was civil.

"Frankly, in Salt Lake County, it's not that unusual right now," he said. "It's the healthy part of good governance. And this is just another example."

The Mayor's Office refused to comment Thursday, saying the investigation is an internal personnel matter.

djensen@sltrib.com