Being a good employee will keep Richard David Wyss out of prison.
Wyss, a lawyer caught working for both the state and federal government -- and who lied about it -- will serve 36 months of probation, even though an attorney on Tuesday suggested Wyss stole a computer and bilked the state in other ways.
Wyss also must pay $188,000 in restitution to the state. In December, Wyss pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements.
Wyss worked the two jobs from 2002 to 2007 but he gave his federal employers false time sheets and made other misrepresentations saying he worked only part-time at the state job. Wyss was charged with crimes for the cover-up, not with working two jobs.
In a hearing on Tuesday, federal prosecutors asked that Wyss go to prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Lund argued Wyss held a position of trust and there was no way he could have met his obligations to both his employers.
Robert Morton, a civil lawyer for the Utah Attorney General's Office, suggested in court Wyss also might have stolen a state computer that was found with Wyss' son at Brigham Young University. There was a conference Wyss attended in the eastern United States in which records show Wyss stayed in a city 120 miles away from the conference and may have only attended a portion of the event, Morton said.
As part of Wyss' plea agreement, Morton said, the state agreed not to pursue criminal charges or repayment for those other possible misdeeds.
Wyss' attorneys did not address the new theft allegations directly but Wyss said he takes responsibility for lying to federal investigators.
"I did what I shouldn't have done," he said.
Judge Clark Waddoups called the case "an anomaly" because Wyss did not appear to have been motivated by money; rather Wyss was "keeping his employers happy."
Waddoups noted Wyss received satisfactory-to-outstanding evaluations while he worked full-time for both the state of Utah and the federal Transportation Security Administration and Wyss was not a risk to offend again. Waddoups ordered the probation.
