Estimated read time: Less than a minute
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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
ST. GEORGE — A man found guilty of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct at a Beaver Pioneer Day event will be receiving a share of $52,000 and legal fees from Beaver County after it agreed to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit.
Curtis Vollmar was convicted in 2022 for passing out leaflets supportive of defendants who were later cleared of pig theft. He is appealing an April guilty verdict in a separate criminal case.
Vollmar is among the five plaintiffs receiving the monetary award in a settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by Vollmar, animal rights groups Direct Action Everywhere and the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, and two others who represented the two groups at the July 23, 2022, event at Beaver's Main Street Park.
They say their First Amendment rights were violated when police forced them to vacate the park and a nearby sidewalk after distributing leaflets and speaking to residents in support of the defendants in the Smithfield Circle Four Farms trial.
