Utah is being a bad boy again…
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/4/13/21219091/federal-stimulus-utah-department-of-justice-lawsuit-whistleblower
Feds accuse Utah of misusing millions of dollars in DOJ grants, stimulus money
Several Utah criminal justice agencies, including the attorney general’s office, misused millions of dollars in federal grant and stimulus money, according to a lawsuit the federal government has filed against the state.
The complaint filed in U.S. District Court late Friday claims the agencies made “materially false” representations, including that they lost jobs or would lose jobs to budget cuts, to obtain and continue to receive U.S. Department of Justice grants.
“In each instance, the agency that represented it did or would lose jobs had a budget surplus or had cuts restored before federal grants expired,” according to the lawsuit. “In the end, defendants obtained millions of dollars in federal funds that they were not entitled to receive because of their fraud and false certifications.”
The allegations were first leveled when a Utah prison inmate sued the state in 2015 as a whistleblower. The lawsuit led to a federal investigation and the DOJ taking over the case.
The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice received more than $17 million through the DOJ’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, the American Recovery Reinvestment Act Program, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Continuation Program from 2009 to 2011. Some of the dollars were earmarked for states struggling in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis.
The commission parceled the money out in smaller amounts to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Utah Department of Public Safety, Utah Department of Corrections, Administrative Office of the Courts and Juvenile Justice Services.
The lawsuit names 18 current and former state administrators and the state of Utah as defendants. It alleges False Claims Act violations, common law fraud, payment under mistake of fact, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Among the defendants are corrections executive director Mike Haddon, Utah Highway Patrol Col. Mike Rapich and former criminal and juvenile justice commission director Ron Gordon, who now works as Gov. Gary Herbert’s general counsel.
The federal government seeks an undetermined amount in damages, including between $11,181 and $22,363 for each violations of the false claims law.
According to the complaint, state administrators misused the grant money by replacing rather than supplementing state dollars for dozens of criminal justice jobs.
“In particular, defendants used federal money to pay salaries of existing state employees and then did not, when required, immediately fill the vacated positions. This amounted to defendants supplanting rather than supplementing their agency budgets in contravention of the grant requirements and certifications defendants made to DOJ,” the lawsuit says.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office said Monday it would continue a vigorous defense on behalf of the defendants named in the lawsuit. It also said the alleged wrongdoing happened before Attorney General Sean Reyes took office.
After the whistleblower’s complaint was unsealed in federal court earlier this year, Reyes called state employees named in the case upstanding public servants.