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Posted: 3:43 PM- The Wendover police chief resigned Thursday amid complaints from his subordinates and the arrest of his wife, a stripper, on drug charges.
Chief Vaughn Tripp quit after Mayor Brett Shelton asked for his resignation "on grounds of embarrassment," the mayor said.
Patty Rich, director of the Salt Lake City chapter of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, said her office has received complaints in recent months from Wendover police officers about Tripp.
Among the allegations: He prohibited officers from investigating drug cases.
Then on Friday, Tripp's wife, Sylvia Tripp - stage name "Ecstasy" - was arrested on suspicion of drug distribution and possession in West Wendover, Nev., at the strip club where she works. The Elko County drug task force commander said she was selling drugs at the strip club, but Vaughn Tripp is not a suspect.
Tribune phone calls to Vaughn Tripp this week have not been returned.
Vaughn Tripp, who had been chief since October 1998, was one of four police officers employed in Wendover, Rich said. Last month, other police officers from the town met with Rich to voice their complaints about the chief.
"They range from abusive behavior toward the police officers to failure to file reports - the police chief himself - [to] not allowing the police officers to go out on drug busts," she said.
Rich said police officers would receive complaints about drug activity, but the chief would forbid the officers from responding or investigating. She said the officers have no evidence Vaughn Tripp committed crimes.
It's not the first time police in Wendover have had drug-related troubles. In 1990, then-Wendover Police Chief A. June Carter was arrested and subsequently pleaded guilty to felony drug possession in a case that involved drugs stolen from the police evidence room. Carter's wife, who also was a Wendover police officer, also was convicted in the case.
Shelton said the Carters' case made Wendover residents more sensitive to Sylvia Tripp's arrest.
"I'm sure it did with a lot of the citizens and the perspective of others looking at our community," Shelton said.
As for officer complaints about drug investigations in Wendover, Shelton said the complaints were "under advisement."
But Rich said the mayor has ignored previous complaints from the other officers.
She said she spoke last week with a representative of the Utah Attorney General's Office and asked it to determine whether it has the jurisdiction to investigate Vaughn Tripp's behavior. Rich said she has not yet received a response.
With a small staff to begin with, Rich said, the former chief's behavior, and now departure, raised safety concerns on the force.
"People go out there, they get drunk, they get rowdy," Rich said.
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