Altamont mayor pleads guilty in shoplifting incident


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ALTAMONT, Duchesne County — Mayor Clyde Watkins said Monday he was experiencing a "weak moment" in his life when he stole a bottle of over-the-counter medication from the town's only grocery store back in June.

"I knew I'd done wrong," Watkins said in a telephone interview. "This was a slip-up on my part. It's not like I do this on a regular basis."

Court records show Watkins pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to theft, a class B misdemeanor. Duchesne County Justice Court Judge Clair Poulson agreed to hold Watkins' plea in abeyance for six months as part of an agreement between Watkins and prosecutors.

Watkins took a package of Zyrtec, an allergy medication, off the shelf at Swasey's Food Town on June 25, discarded the box and pocketed the bottle of pills before leaving the store, according to Duchesne County Sheriff's Lt. Jeremy Curry. The shoplifting incident was witnessed by a store employee, Curry said.

When Watkins, 54, returned to the store three days later, the same employee became suspicious of his behavior and confronted him with those suspicions, Curry said. Watkins denied stealing anything, paid for a bag of chips and left the store, according to investigators.


I did it right by God and by the people I knew that I had offended.

–Clyde Watkins, Altamont mayor


Watkins said he went to his LDS Church bishop for counsel immediately after the theft of the medication.

"I told him, 'I need to take care of this,'" the mayor recalled.

"I did it right by God and by the people I knew that I had offended," Watkins said, noting that he apologized in person to the store's owner and its manager.

By then the sheriff's office had been contacted and Watkins was interviewed by a detective. The three-term mayor for the town with roughly 230 residents admitted that he took the Zyrtec without paying for it, according to Curry.

Court records show Watkins paid a $680 plea-in-abeyance fee on the day he pleaded guilty. If Watkins has no new criminal violations before Feb. 18, 2015, the theft charge against him will be dismissed.

"I don't plan to do this ever again," the mayor said.

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