This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah Legislature should be investigated for fraud for offering for sale commemorative R-15 rifles last year, accepting payment, cashing the checks and then refusing to deliver the product.
That is according to a formal complaint filed with the Utah Division of Consumer Services by Bryan Melchoir of Sandy.
Melchoir claims in the complaint that he was defrauded by the Legislature when he purchased two AR-15 rifles that were offered as
text from story">2015 commemorative legislative firearms.
He says he sent a check for $1,500 for the rifles and the check was cashed. But he has never received the rifles.
Last October, the several hundred patrons who had purchased rifles through the legislative promotion received an email from Ryan Clarke of Tegra Arms, the company selected to manufacture the rifles.
The email said that, because Tegra Arms had not been paid, it could not manufacture the rifles and had pulled out of the project.
Jeremy Roberts, who managed the rifle sales for the Legislature, told me at the time that Tegra hadn't been paid because many of the customers who ordered the rifles had not yet sent their checks. He said another manufacturer had taken over the job and the rifles would be delivered soon.
But in January, people who had paid for the rifles were still complaining they had not received them. Although many others said they finally got their rifles, but had to go to a licensed gun shop to get them.
Melchoir, however, says he is still waiting and despite his calls to Roberts and legislators, has received no confirmation that his rifles were even at a gun shop.
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It's a scary world: Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes needs a body guard, apparently.
House Bill 349, sponsored by Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, allows the attorney general to appoint A.G. employees as a security detail for the attorney general and his staff.
A.G. spokesman Daniel Burton said Reyes and some of his staffers have been threatened when they have been out in the field on investigations.
Burton said the security detail would come from investigators already on the A.G.'s staff, so there would be no extra cost to taxpayers.
Reyes made headlines last year when he participated in a sting operation to catch and arrest child sex traffickers in Colombia.
Reyes pretended to be a body guard for undercover agents posing as business tycoons in the market for prostitutes.
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Will run for food: State Democratic Chairman Peter Corroon placed a robo call to residents of Utah County recently with a recorded message asking if anyone in the household would be interested in running for the Legislature as a Democrat.
Getting a little desperate?
Corroon says it's not the first time the party has placed robo calls seeking candidates in areas that are challenging for Democrats.
In 2014, there were nine county-wide offices up for election in Utah County. Not one had a Democratic candidate.
Corroon says the robo calls were limited to folks who the party has on file as registered Democrats or past or present Democratic delegates.
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Speaking of robo calls: Kerry Keller says he is tired of getting consistent spam calls on his cell from Gov Gary Herbert's campaign, despite his request to put him on their do-not-call list.
The calls are recorded messages, but they leave a number for him to call back. So he keeps calling back, leaving a message of his own to stop calling.
But they keep calling anyway.