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Clearfield • A teen who was accused of drugging a police officer and then cleared of that accusation just wants to get his life back on track after a "living nightmare."
Tests that indicated a Layton police officer may have been poisoned at a sandwich shop could not be confirmed by a state forensics laboratory, according to the Layton Police Department.
That means 18-year-old Tanis Ukena, the employee targeted by detectives in the Aug. 8 incident at a Layton Subway restaurant, will not be charged with any crime, said Layton police Lt. Travis Lyman.
From the beginning of the investigation, Ukena has denied claims that he spiked the drink of an unidentified police sergeant with methamphetamine and THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Ukena's attorney, Randall Richards, said at a Tuesday evening news conference that police should have recognized "red flags" that would have proved the teen's innocence from the beginning.
The sergeant's description of what happened would have been "impossible," Richards said, first because he said the supposed drugs had made him "sluggish and unresponsive," but a known effect of methamphetamine is hyperactivity. The attorney also said any effects of drugs would have taken minutes to kick in, not seconds, like the sergeant described.
Drug dogs that searched the restaurant and surrounding area didn't find anything that would have contained any type of drug, Richards said. He said Subway surveillance footage showed Ukena through the entire process of preparing the officer's lemonade.
At one point, Ukena stepped away from the drink, but that was to get a towel to wipe off residue on the outside of the cup after it had been overfilled, he explained Tuesday.
Lastly, Richards said, the "rudimentary" ion scan device police originally used to test the drink is "notorious" for giving false negatives for methamphetamine and THC.
Layton police, while initially arresting the teen, delayed formal charges pending state lab results on samples of the sergeant's drink.
On Tuesday, Layton police said the lab's tests were "unable to confirm that contaminants were in the officer's drink," as indicated by departmental tests that allegedly found "the presence of a foreign substance in the officer's drink," originally suspected as THC, methamphetamine or both.
The officer's blood work also came back negative for drugs, Richards said.
"Due to the lab results, the [LPD] will not seek charges against Tanis and believes this information should go out immediately in the best interest of Tanis Ukena and also the Subway restaurant," Lyman said.
Richards had hoped for an outright apology from police.
"They should never have arrested him for this," Richards said. "This young man's gone through something nobody should have to go through, because he's innocent."
While he initially felt some anger toward police, Ukena said, now he just feels disappointment at how they handled things.
Ukena's life has been at a standstill since the incident, he said. He delayed leaving for his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission to Utica, N.Y., for six weeks, and online threats and comments made him afraid to go out in public.
He's grateful that he has been cleared publicly, so his life can start moving forward again.
But he knows this experience likely will follow him for the rest of his life.
"Nowadays," Ukena said, "any employer who is a good employer is going to Google" potential employees' names. He hopes that news reports from this week will show up alongside the original reports that he was suspected of this crime.
The owners of the Subway where he worked have been very supportive, said Ukena, who plans to go back to work there until he leaves for his mission next month.
While he "would like to see some compensation," Ukena is eager to serve his mission and move on. He hopes to study mechanical engineering at either Utah State University or the University of Utah when he returns from New York state.
Richards said he was uncertain what course the youth and his family might take next — but a civil suit is not out of the question.
"I don't know how you undo the damage that has been done. ... He's 18, and his picture has been plastered all over the nation," Richards said, adding that his client has received "numerous vicious comments and messages" regarding the allegations.
Layton police "need to stand up and apologize for this, and they haven't done so," the attorney said.
In a news release, the LPD thanked Subway for its cooperation and "Tanis and his family" for their patience ... during this investigation."
His parents, Landy and Heather Ukena, described the experience with their son as a "living nightmare." Their son spent the night in jail one week after he'd turned 18, his mother said. His family paid $10,000, Richards said, to get him out of jail.
They have never doubted their son's innocence, they said, describing him as an ambitious student, who is three credits shy of his associate degree, and a responsible child who had never even missed curfew.
Heather Ukena said she doesn't expect an apology from police, even though her son deserves one. They were not shy about "condemning" her son two months ago,
As part of its investigation, the sergeant was screened medically for any conditions that may have led to his feeling sick and disoriented after sipping his drink and driving away from the restaurant in August. None of those results offered answers.
The sergeant was a regular at the restaurant, Tanis Ukena said, and despite the bad experience, the teen still supports law enforcement. It has, however, made him think more about people who have been convicted of crimes but are innocent and have not yet been exonerated.
The past two months have been a "spiritual experience," Tanis Ukena said, and have helped him feel more confident about serving a mission.
While there is "some obvious unrest" nationwide between police forces and the public, Landy Ukena said he would like to see law enforcers doing everything they can to gain trust, like more community outreach and "even admitting mistakes."
Twitter: @remims, @mnoblenews