This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The San Juan County sheriff, his chief deputy and another deputy who were charged last week with crimes will remain on duty until the legal proceedings have concluded.

Because of their "legal obligation to protect the public health, safety and welfare" of residents, the three county commissioners "have chosen" to keep the officers in their positions, according to a news release issued Monday.

"Currently, the San Juan County Sheriff's Office is staffed with eleven (11) field officers, including the Sheriff and his Chief Deputy, to provide law enforcement for the largest county in Utah," the release says.

Placing the three on administrative leave would create an "undue public safety risk," the release also says.

On Friday, the Utah attorney general's office charged Sheriff Richard Eldredge, 48, in 7th District Court with third-degree felony retaliation against a witness, as well as class A misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, obstruction of justice and official misconduct.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Alan Freestone, 57, also was charged with third-degree felony retaliation against a witness and misdemeanor charges of obstruction of justice and official misconduct.

In addition, prosecutors charged Deputy Robert J. Wilcox, 46, with misdemeanors of reckless endangerment, obstruction of justice and official misconduct.

The attorney general's office had no comment on the announcement, spokesman Daniel Burton said Monday.

Defense attorney Greg Skordas, who is not involved in the case, said departments typically will place on leave officers who are charged with a crime, pending resolution of the matter; because of the presumption of innocence, they make it paid leave. That arrangement is harder on small departments, he said.

"That's a quarter of the department," Skordas said of the three defendants. "I don't think any department can afford that type of layoff."

On Monday, for the second time in month, a media law attorney said the commission violated the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act. Attorney Austin Riter said Monday that the commission did not post advance public notice, as required by the act, of a meeting during which the job status of the officers was to be discussed.

Riter also said that, under the act, a personnel decision can be discussed in private, but the reason for closing a meeting must be invoked publicly.

But San Juan County Commission Chairman Phil Lyman said there had been no discussion about leaving the sheriff and two deputies in their positions and, therefore, no violation.

"A decision would be to change their status," he said, adding that "to do nothing doesn't violate the open meetings act."

Lyman also said every agenda says the commission can go into a closed meeting during a regular session.

Commissioner Bruce Adams also insisted that there had been no violation, and Commissioner Rebecca Benally said she did not have time to discuss the matter.

Earlier in May, another media law attorney, David Reymann, said the commission violated the Open and Public Meetings Act when the three commissioners met with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke at the department's Washington, D.C., headquarters. Reymann said no advance public notice for that meeting was provided, which he argued was a violation because the commissioners were discussing issues affecting their constituents and representing their county.

Adams does not believe the commission is required to post notice of meetings in which decisions are not being discussed, he said at the time, as was the case with the Zinke meeting.

A probable-cause statement alleges that during a departmental shooting exercise in May 2015, Eldredge pointed a department-issued "assault rifle" at another sheriff's office employee, who said he heard the click of the trigger and heard Wilcox chuckle. The sheriff allegedly "failed to recall" the incident even though he acknowledged the conduct in November 2016.

After the employee reported the incident, Eldredge assigned Freestone to investigate, the probable-cause statement alleges, and the chief deputy, to protect the sheriff, did not conduct a proper investigation.

"Freestone's investigation had incorrect dates, incorrect paperwork, and missing or no audio interviews," the statement says. "On May 26, 2016, Freestone closed his investigation indicating that the alleged shooting range incident did not happen."

The attorney general's office launched an independent investigation of Eldredge's conduct and interviewed the three defendants, according to the probable-cause statement. Eldredge and Wilcox allegedly provided false information to the special agent conducting the investigation.

The statement says the employee was put on administrative leave from the Sheriff's Office in January and was fired in February in retaliation for reporting his complaint.

pmanson@sltrib.com @PamelaMansonSLC