Jessica Miller SchreifelsThe former CEO of the nonprofit Voices for Utah Children recently gave up his law license following allegations that he took money from the prominent child advocacy organization.
Lincoln Nehring resigned his Utah State Bar membership in February as an investigation was pending.
Details of the allegations were outline in a May/June issue of Utah State Bar.
According to the Bar, Nehring submitted checks from Utah Voices Utah Children to another company for “consulting services.”
But one of the nonprofit’s employees was suspicious, according to the Bar Journal, and did some research. That employee discovered the entity that Nehring had written two checks to had been set up and established in his own name.
When Nehring was confronted about it during a meeting with the nonprofit’s chair and members of its executive committee, Nehring resigned and provided cashier’s checks to cover the amount that his other company received.
“I made a terrible mistake,” Nehring wrote in a Wednesday email to The Salt Lake Tribune. “It was a very difficult time for my family. This was a monumental lapse in judgment and I regret letting people down.”
It’s not clear when this took place, as the Bar Journal did not list any dates in its summary of the allegations. But the current executive director, Moe Hickey, has been in the position since 2019.
Hickey declined to comment Wednesday.
Nehring has been employed with the nonprofit since 2010, and has been president and CEO since 2016, according to his University of Utah adjunct professor biography. He is no longer an adjunct professor, the University confirmed.
Nehring has not been criminally charged as of Wednesday.
Jessica Schreifels, formerly Jessica Miller, is an investigative reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune, where she has worked since 2011. She was part of the team that won a 2017 Pulitzer Prize. She has collaborated with several national outlets for investigative projects, including FRONTLINE, American Public Media and ProPublica.