Plea deal possible for Utah County businessman accused of impersonating LDS officials

Plea deal possible for Utah County businessman accused of impersonating LDS officials

(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News, File)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Plea negotiations are underway for a Utah County businessman accused of impersonating LDS Church officials in a development fraud scheme.

At a status hearing Friday, Alan Dean McKee, 56, scheduled a change of plea hearing for Oct. 14 in two separate fraud cases against him. Prosecutor Brian Williams said Friday that McKee hasn't accepted a deal, but that an offer has been made and negotiations have begun.

In one case, McKee is charged alongside former Utah County Commissioner Gary Jay Anderson of bilking a construction company of $1.2 million for fraudulent development of an industrial yard near Elberta.

In the other, investigators say McKee contracted with two companies to pull materials off a stretch of railroad that he does not own in the same area of Utah County.

The case against Anderson is ongoing. He is set to appear for a scheduling conference on Oct. 28.

McKee, of Benjamin, is being held in Salt Lake County Jail after he was denied bail. At the time, Williams called McKee a risk to the community, saying, "Danger can be more than physical; it can be financial."

According to investigators, McKee and Anderson used letters, emails and phone calls to impersonate high-ranking officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to legitimize the project they pitched to Minnesota-based Ames Construction.

In February, an LDS Church spokesman called the alleged fraud a "brazen scheme."

Prosecutors also allege that McKee convinced Ames Construction and a fellow Benjamin resident to purchase farm equipment that he said the LDS Church was trying to sell. The Benjamin man invested $250,000 for the equipment.

A certified fraud investigator testified that $2.2 million was deposited into McKee's various bank accounts during the time the allegations cover. He said the number of trips McKee made to Las Vegas, London, Ireland and Hawaii, the number of ski lift passes and sporting event tickets he purchased, and the cash withdrawals he made all point to "signficant personal transactions" during that time.

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McKee and Anderson have been ordered to stand trial on three counts of communications fraud and one count of engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, all second-degree felonies.

Anderson's attorney, Nathan Crane, has claimed Anderson was also duped by McKee, investing $110,000 from his own retirement funds with the businessman, and was not complicit in the scheme.

After posting bond in that case, McKee was charged again in August with one count each of communications fraud and theft, both second-degree felonies.

Police say McKee contracted with R&R Equipment and Greenbox Recycling to pull up stakes, ties and rails from the stretch of railroad. The companies paid out $70,000 to McKee for his share in the project, charging documents state.

At a hearing last month, Union Pacific police estimated the loss of the 7 miles of track, between materials taken and damage done, at $175,000. The project was discovered in August.

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