This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A telemarketer whose taped conversation with John Swallow linked him to the corruption scandal that forced the former Utah attorney general from office has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in a 2014 criminal case.
Aaron Vincent Christner was charged in 3rd District Court with two third-degree felony counts of violating a final cease-and-desist order.
In a deal with Salt Lake County prosecutors, the charges were reduced to class A misdemeanor counts of attempted violation of a cease-and-desist order.
Christner, 37, pleaded guilty to both counts and faces a possible jail term of up to one year for each count when sentenced Dec. 21.
Prosecutors are not expected to ask the court to send Christner to jail, but instead have agreed to recommend 36 months' probation and require him to comply with the cease-and-desist order, his attorney Ed Brass said.
The case stems from allegations that Christner and his business partner, Ryan Scott Jensen, continued to operate a pair of telemarketing businesses — K-Street Advertising and One Touch Media — despite being ordered to cease operations by the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
Jensen was also charged with two felonies and cut a similar deal with prosecutors, entering a guilty plea to two misdemeanors Oct. 5. A judge sentenced him to three years' probation and community service the same day, court records show.
In 2012, Christner phoned Swallow, then a candidate for attorney general, seeking help in overturning a $400,000 judgment that accompanied the division's citations.
Christner, who also said he might attend a Swallow fundraiser, recorded the call and captured the candidate saying he planned to move the consumer protection office out of the Department of Commerce and place it under his control once he was elected. Swallow also suggested setting up a meeting for Christner with then-Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.
The call later was the subject of a Utah State Bar complaint against Swallow by the consumer protection division, which held it was wrong for Swallow to converse with the subject of a state legal action involving the attorney general's office — since that office also represents the division.
The complaint was dismissed.
Swallow has since been charged with multiple felonies, including counts of money laundering, misuse of public funds, obstruction of justice and falsifying government records.
Those charges are tied to corruption and bribery allegations related to conduct inside the attorney general's office, where Swallow was the chief deputy before being elected in 2012.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and a four-week trial is set for April 2016.