Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
STOCKTON, Tooele County — The former police chief of the town of Stockton is accused of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the Utah Department of Highway Safety from funds that were earmarked for DUI shifts.
Travis Stephen Romney, 36, of Stockton, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with two counts of theft and communications fraud, second-degree felonies.
Romney was chief of the Stockton Police Department from April 2016 until his resignation in October, when he took a job with the Grantsville Police Department. At the time, Romney was the only officer in the department.
The investigation began in February when a Stockton town official "found irregularities in checks" issued to Romney, according to charging documents. In addition to receiving his regular salary, Romney worked overtime DUI shifts funded by the Department of Highway Safety.
"The contract states that agencies can be reimbursed for up to five hours at the employee's normal time-and-a-half rate plus standard benefits normally paid by the employer," prosecutors noted.
From 2016 through 2022, Romney received more than $228,000 in DUI shift reimbursements while the town of Stockton was reimbursed nearly $110,000 for his DUI shifts.
"Romney's payroll records were inspected, and calculations were performed to calculate his correct time-and-a-half wage, which was based on bi-monthly installments of his yearly income," the charges state, while also noting that "multiple discrepancies were observed between the appropriate calculated time-and-a-half rate and the amount he billed to highway safety."
The Department of Highway Safety was "constantly" billed for hourly rates which were larger than Romney's actual time-and-a-half rate, prosecutors say. For example, in October, Romney was paid approximately $35.09 per hour for his regular time, but was paid $116.88 per hour for a DUI shift, charging documents allege.
"The difference between what Romney was paid and the amount of money that (the Department of Highway Safety) reimbursed the town of Stockton for is $118,644.15," the charging documents say.
In addition, the state reimbursed police agencies for "up to five hours at the employee's normal time-and-a-half rate." However, "Romney over-billed highway safety for the DUI shifts between 2016 and 2022 by $22,191.53," the charges state.
Prosecutors also checked the total number of DUI arrests reported by Romney each month and compared them with jail and court records and "found that the records of DUI cases fell far below the number of DUI arrests reported by Romney throughout the period reported."
Romney has been placed on leave from his current job as detective for the Grantsville Police Department.
Originally, a judge on Tuesday issued a warrant for Romney's arrest. He then filed a motion asking to appear in court through a summons. As of Wednesday morning, a judge has not issued a decision on the motion.
A call placed to Romney's attorney Wednesday by KSL.com was not immediately returned.
The Utah Department of Public Safety released a prepared statement Wednesday regarding the fraud and embezzlement investigation.
"The Utah Department of Public Safety's State Bureau of Investigation led the investigation into Romney's activities, which began in February at the request of Tooele County officials. The investigation was initiated after officials from Stockton became aware of irregularities in their financial documents related to Romney," the department said. "(The state's) objective in every investigation is to conduct a thorough, unbiased and fair investigation of the allegations."
Correction: An earlier version incorrectly said Romney is 26 instead of 36.
