This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
A former Escalante police chief has been ordered to stand trial on two second-degree felony counts of making false or inconsistent statements in a report on a drug investigation.
However, 6th District Judge Marvin Bagley dismissed a class B misdemeanor of official misconduct against Kevin Worlton, 48, at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
A three-day trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 30, 2017.
Investigators allege Worlton, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, submitted and swore to contradicting probable-cause statements while investigating a drug case in December 2014. The then-chief of the southern Utah town arrested six people on charges ranging from first-degree felonies to class B misdemeanors, and four of them pleaded guilty less than a week later, according to the charges.
After contradictions allegedly surfaced in the police report written by Worlton, those four suspects were allowed to withdraw their guilty pleas and prosecutors later dismissed their cases.
They also dismissed nearly a dozen other felony drug cases after Worlton refused to testify in those matters. According to court records, the former chief said testifying might violate his own rights against self-incrimination.
Worlton was put on paid leave in January 2015, when the Utah Attorney General's Office began its investigation, and was fired by the Escalante City Council a few months later when charges were filed against him.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC