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Last of five officers charged in Daggett County jail inmate-abuse scandal resolves his case

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Former Daggett County Sheriff Jerry Jorgensen, center, appears with lawyers and former jail commander Lt. Benjamin Lail, right, in 3rd District Court in Silver Summit on Monday July 17 before Judge Kent Holmberg on charges connected to the abuse of jail inmates at the Daggett County jail. A third person charged, on the far left, is Deputy Joshua Cox.

The last of five officers charged last year in connection with the abuse of inmates at the Daggett County jail has resolved his case.

Logan Walker, 27, was charged with class B misdemeanor official misconduct.

On Jan. 19, in Summit County’s justice court, he entered a plea in abeyance, meaning the case will be dismissed in six months if he commits no new crimes and pays a $500 court fee.

Another jail officer, Rodrigo Toledo, 42, entered into a similar resolution last fall.

Former Daggett County Sheriff Jerry Jorgensen, 65, also resolved his case that way.

Harsher punishment was dealt to jailer Joshua Cox, 27, who was sentenced to four months behind bars for abusing inmates, including stunning them with Tasers in exchange for soda, and taking police dogs into the jail for training, which resulted in two people being bitten.

Cox had pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court to two counts of third-degree felony aggravated assault, one third-degree felony count of bringing a weapon into the jail and a count of misdemeanor theft.

Former jail commander Benjamin Lail, 32, who pleaded guilty to class A misdemeanor reckless endangerment for firing a stun gun at the feet of a woman working in the jail control room, was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay a $750 fine.

The case caused state prison officials to pull its inmates from the 80-bed Daggett County jail, where it had for years paid to house the prisoners.

The state’s inmates were removed in February after the Department of Corrections opened an investigation into the jail officers’ conduct — a move that stripped Daggett County of an anticipated $1.42 million through the end of the year.