The Utah House of Representatives is “carefully reviewing” allegations by a pair of Utah businessmen that Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, who is up for reelection this year, altered checks and suggested he could use his position as a lawmaker to secure government contracts to settle debts to an employer.

Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate and Moxie Pest Control CEO Jason Walton is behind the campaign to keep Lee from returning to the Legislature. In two videos totaling nearly 20 minutes, a business partner of Walton’s at Moxie and the CEO of Enevive, a water filtration company, detailed accusations against the second-term representative, whom they labeled an “admitted scammer.”

The allegations, which were initially posted on the website stoptrevorlee.com, come only days before Davis County GOP delegates vote Saturday on whether to nominate Lee to remain in his House District 16 seat, or pick challenger County Commissioner Bob Stevenson.

“Paid for by Jason Walton,” a note at the bottom of the website reads. “Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”

In 2013, according to recorded remarks by Moxie Pest Control co-owner Phil Nielsen, while Lee was employed by the company in Raleigh, North Carolina, he manipulated a series of company checks made out to himself to increase their value, allegedly defrauding the business of approximately $3,100.

Walton told The Salt Lake Tribune that he contacted the Raleigh Police Department upon learning of the allegations but ultimately decided not to press charges after an emotional conversation among him, Nielsen and Lee in which the now-lawmaker’s bosses pressed him to admit to the actions.

“If I had to do it all over again,” Walton said, “we would have turned him over to the authorities.”

House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said in a statement Wednesday, “We are carefully reviewing the matter and will follow the appropriate process to determine the facts and any next steps.”

“Allegations of this nature involving a sitting legislator are taken seriously,” Schultz added.

The House leader has given significant financial support to Lee’s campaign in this and previous election cycles. In March, the Schultz-controlled House Republican Election Committee PAC gave $2,500 to Lee. Political action committees led by Schultz donated approximately $22,000 to Lee’s campaign in 2024.

‘Something I did as a stupid college kid’

Lee said Wednesday night that the allegations were a “hit job.”

“This was something I did as a stupid college kid and paid my debt,” Lee told The Tribune in a statement Wednesday night, seeming to refer to the altered checks. “I’ve gotten married and I’m now the proud father of 5 wonderful children.”

“My constituents understand that this is just a hit job to support a member of the good ole boys club,” he added.

Stevenson, who previously served as Layton mayor, pushed back against the suggestion that his campaign was involved in creating the website.

“I don’t even know these people. No one’s talked to me, no one said a word,” Stevenson told The Tribune during an interview Wednesday night.

“I’ve always tried to, when I run for an office, talk about things that we want to do and not get caught up in what my opponent’s doing,” he said.

Neither Walton nor Trent Spafford, the owner of Enevive and the speaker in the second video, lives in Davis County.

First elected in 2022, Lee entered the Legislature with a reputation as a conservative culture warrior. He previously ran a personal social media account from which he made derogatory comments about women and LGBTQ+ people.

And over the past few years, Lee has weighed seeking to amend the Utah Constitution to bar noncitizen immigrant children from public schools and introduced a bill banning government entities and employees from displaying pride flags on public property. The Layton lawmaker made headlines during the most recent legislative session for a bill that would prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving public benefits, including vaccines, health coverage and food aid, and another that initially would have effectively erased transgender people from public life.

Spafford, who in October 2024 posted photos on his Facebook page of Lee traveling with him and his wife to Prescott Valley, Arizona, for a rally supporting President Donald Trump, began his filmed comments saying, “This is really hard for me, because I’m a registered Republican. I was a delegate in the last election. I am a conservative.”

Then, Spafford continued, “I have hired and trained a lot of sales reps — thousands over my career — and I can tell you that Trevor Lee was probably one of the most dishonest individuals that I have ever really interacted with.”

According to Spafford, Lee owes Enevive nearly $100,000 in advance payments — a debt he allegedly promised to repay by “using his leverage” as a state lawmaker to ensure the company was given a government contract at Hill Air Force Base.

Spafford accused Lee of simultaneously working for another water filtration company in a lawsuit filed in federal court in September. The complaint in the case alleged Lee used Enevieve’s client list and software to make sales calls for the competitor.

Lee said that Spafford is “just mad a lobbyist (not me) couldn’t secure him a government contract and tried to come after me maliciously. The case was dismissed this week.”

According to court records, Enevive voluntarily dropped the lawsuit Monday.

State Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Highland, represented Lee and the other defendants in the case. Brammer did not return a message seeking comment.

Spafford did not immediately answer a request for an interview.

“As I look around what happens now in the country, when I see what people are willing to do, I think it’s scary. So where does that start?” Walton told The Tribune.

“A lot of the people [who like Trevor] I think are pretty frustrated that I’m coming forward now,” he continued. “Now I have a clean conscience. This is easy for me — and I wish more people would do the same. If you would just take people who are dishonest and hold them accountable and vote them out of office, regardless of party, I think we’d solve most of America’s problems in two years.”