Former Auditor Craig Sorensen - who, after 25 years in office, resigned this summer during the contentious scandal that pelted county government - will be sentenced later, but probably won't face jail time. Prosecutors have agreed to seek a year of probation and $8,678 in restitution.
Sorensen, dressed in his trademark dark gray suit and with glasses perched in the middle of his nose, gave contrite, two-word answers to Judge Deno G. Himonas. Outside the courtroom, the former Republican auditor was remorseful.
"I take full responsibility and accountability for my actions," Sorensen said, his wife, Nita, standing at his side. "What I did was terribly, terribly wrong. I want to apologize to all those I have wronged . . . I did wrong, and I'm truly, truly sorry."
Himonas requested a diagnostic evaluation and background review, which the judge will use to decide Sorensen's punishment. Himonas could sentence Sorensen to up to five years in prison and fine him $5,000.
Sorensen's plea agreement says that if he is sentenced to probation and completes it successfully, prosecutors agree to reduce the crime to a class A misdemeanor in court filings - a move that would free him from a felony record.
The former auditor was not jailed while awaiting court hearings. Sorensen, who was an independently elected official, was originally charged with a second-degree felony of misuse of public money. Court documents allege that Sorensen stole 7,641 gallons of fuel, at a cost of $10,139, over the course of three years by filling up his county-owned Ford Expedition and then adding gas to a personal car.
The Salt Lake Tribune first raised questions about Sorensen's gas card use when records showed that either he was getting 4.6 miles to the gallon, and at some times even less - or fuel was going into another vehicle. Sorensen admitted to theft and resigned nine days after The Tribune reported questionable use and after the District Attorney's Office launched its investigation. His attorney, Wally Bugden, said Sorensen understands he did something illegal. "We're not making excuses," Bugden said Thursday.
Sorensen is the only official so far who has been criminally charged in relation to the scandal, though the District Attorney's Office has not ended its investigation.
Prosecutors have obtained records for all officials with county gas cards, including District Attorney David Yocom, but will not talk about possible charges against other officials.
The probe could focus on two other high-ranking leaders who resigned amid the scandal: former Chief Financial Officer Randy Allen, who admitted using his county SUV to haul his boat to Lake Powell; and Greg Curtis, the former legal adviser to County Mayor Nancy Workman who also serves as House majority leader. He acknowledged taking state mileage reimbursement while driving a county-owned and -fueled SUV. Curtis called it an oversight and has repaid the state.
tburr@sltrib.com
