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A former eastern Utah sheriff pleaded guilty Friday to using his county-issued vehicle and a search-and-rescue trailer to move to his new home in southern Utah.

Former Carbon County Sheriff James Cordova, 53, was charged last year in 7th District Court in Price with one third-degree felony count of misusing public money and one class C misdemeanor count of license plate and registration violation.

Cordova pleaded guilty Friday to the third degree felony count and the misdemeanor was dismissed.

His plea will be held in abeyance for three years, at which time the case will be dismissed so long as Cordova commits no new offenses, pays restitution of $2,166.35 and completes 80 hours of community service.

In a statement read in court and distributed to the news media, Cordova pointed to his 30 years in law enforcement and apologized to the Carbon County Sheriff's Office, all 28 Utah sheriffs and the law enforcement community.

"This was obviously bad judgment on my behalf to use this vehicle and a sheriff's office trailer to move personal belongings to my home in St George," the former sheriff said.

He acknowledged that the charges against him "have some merit."

"In order to avoid further shame and embarrassment upon my family and the office I held, I have chosen to settle this case through a plea agreement," Cordova said. "I've entered a guilty plea to the alleged charges to avoid further embarrassment to myself, my family, and the citizens of Carbon County."

In a probable cause statement written by an attorney general's office investigator, state attorneys say that between December 2013 and April 2014, Cordova used his county-issued vehicle and a county trailer to move personal household items from his new home in Carbon County to St. George.

During the moves, Cordova allegedly used a county credit card about 26 times to buy more than $2,000 worth of gasoline at locations in five Utah counties.

Court papers also say the search-and-rescue trailer used to move Cordova's family furnishings was affixed with a license plate which was registered to another county trailer. The documents state Cordova has admitted to investigators that he had switched the plates.

Cordova, in his court statement, stressed that he never used the credit card to fuel his personal vehicle, only his county issued vehicle, which he used at all times "in order to respond to emergency situations."

But he added that it was "obviously bad judgment" to use the county vehicle and trailer to move his personal belongings.

Cordova was first elected to office in 1999. He did not file for re-election last year and bought a house in St. George.

The Carbon County prosecutor's office launched an investigation of Cordova in March 2014 after citizens registered complaints about the sheriff with the County Commission. The findings were turned over for further investigation to the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Cordova remained on the job throughout the investigation until his final term as sheriff expired at the end of the 2014 calendar year. Jeff Wood was sworn in as sheriff in December.