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SALT LAKE CITY — A new search warrant involving former Attorney General John Swallow's campaign manager was unsealed Wednesday in 3rd District Court.
The warrant issued Feb. 12 was served on Google Inc. for the Gmail account of Jessica Fawson dating from Oct. 15, 2008, to the present. Fawson, who also worked on one of former Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's campaigns, managed Swallow's campaign from December 2011 to July or August 2012, according to an affidavit supporting the search warrant.
An investigator for the Utah House Special Investigative Committee interviewed Fawson last year. Parts of the interview are included in the affidavit.
Fawson told the House investigator that she was the operational leader of Swallow's fundraising activities who wrote emails, worked on campaign events and was someone who "made the campaign."
She also said that Swallow was the primary fundraiser and handled a lot of fundraising activities himself.
The House committee alleges Swallow's campaign devised a strategy to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions he received from the payday loan industry. Swallow had relationships with several businessmen that benefited him personally, professionally and politically, according to the report released in January.
Swallow has denied any wrongdoing.
The warrant made public Wednesday is another in series of warrants authorities have obtained in the ongoing criminal investigation of Swallow and Shurtleff.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill and Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, along with the FBI and Utah Department of Public Safety, started the probe into alleged wrongdoing in the attorney general's office about 18 months ago.
On Monday, the DPS and the FBI searched the Sandy homes of Swallow and Shurtleff. Agents also searched the home of Renae Cowley, who worked on both of their election campaigns.
