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SALT LAKE CITY -- Criminal charges are apparently coming soon in a scandal at This Is The Place Heritage Park.
Executive director Matthew Dahl was fired in January for misusing close to a quarter-million dollars. Now his own attorney expects federal charges within 30 to 60 days.
"Our understanding is that the United States Attorney's office is looking at filing any number of mail fraud counts," said attorney Greg Skordas. "We don't know how many yet, or what those counts will be."
He indicated a behind-the-scenes effort is underway to quickly resolve those charges.
Dahl was the park's executive director for five years. The misuse of funds was discovered by internal auditing at This Is The Place. Park officials have not said how $240,000 bled from the park without being noticed at first or what Dahl allegedly did with it.
After the park's board fired him, the board turned files over to Salt Lake City Police. Sometime after that, the FBI entered the case and consultations began with the U.S. Attorney's office.
Dahl has already paid back more than half the money, Skordas said, and is raising the rest by liquidating his assets and retirement funds.
"He's caused some embarrassment to himself and to his family," Skordas said. "He's even at the point now where he's selling his home."
Park officials have revealed no details of the alleged crime, but they have taken steps to prevent a recurrence.
"Now there are greater controls," said Tresha Kramer, the park's director of marketing and public relations. "There's been more training for all of the employees and we've added a new finance member to our board."
The firing of the top man delivered a blow to morale at the park, Kramer acknowledged.
"It was devastating to have something like this happen to our team," she said.
She said park contributors and visitors have been supportive and the staff is moving on with enthusiasm for the park's mission of providing an excellent visitor experience.
Skordas "We're working with the park, we're working with the United States government, to get the money back and to accept responsibility for the conduct," Skordas said.
That comment suggests a plea bargain is in the works. It's not known if Dahl expects to serve time behind bars, but Skordas predicts he'll pay all the money back by the end of the year.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
