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A Millard County sheriff's lieutenant has retired and a detective has been terminated after allegations they covered up for a registered sex offender who had a gun in his home.
Sheriff Robert Dekker confirmed Wednesday Lt. Roger Young has taken retirement and Detective Bill Jackson has been terminated. Jackson has appealed to a county board and remains suspended with pay until he receives a hearing, Dekker said.
Dekker expects the hearing to take place within a few weeks.
Dekker said the moves came after a report from Sevier County Attorney Dale Eyre found Young and Jackson hindered the investigation into whether Jackson's father, a registered sex offender, had a gun in his home. In July 2008, Merlin Jackson had a medical emergency at his home outside of Fillmore. Millard County deputies responded.
As medical personnel were wheeling Merlin Jackson out of the home, a deputy saw a rifle in a gun cabinet. Merlin Jackson, now 76, was convicted in 1997 of felony forcible sexual abuse and remains on the state's sex-offender registry. Utah law makes it a criminal offense for felons to possess weapons.
When the deputy told Young what he saw, Young told him to handwrite a report, seal it in an envelope and slide it under Young's office door or place it in his inbox, according to a report by detectives from Iron County. Normally, police reports are entered into Millard County's electronic database. The Iron County report indicated Bill Jackson later retrieved the gun but did not enter it into evidence.
Eyre said Young and Jackson violated procedure and recommended administrative discipline. But Eyre did not believe they committed a criminal offense. Eyre said he could not prove that Merlin Jackson was in possession of the gun and therefore could not prove a criminal coverup by Young and Bill Jackson.
Merlin Jackson entered a guilty plea in abeyance to the gun possession earlier this year. However, his attorney, Jim Slavens, also argued prosecutors could not prove Merlin Jackson was in possession of the gun. The abeyance plea means Merlin Jackson is free, and the case will be dismissed after a year if he commits no new crimes.
Dekker said Young had planned to retire as recently as the start of this year, but Dekker added he's sure the specific timing is related to the findings from Eyre.
"All this stuff is now put to bed," Dekker said.