Lehi man who scammed multiple friends ordered to pay back $90K, spend year in jail

Dalton Slangerup was ordered Wednesday to pay back money to victims of his fraud in Utah County after he serves a year in jail. The judge suspended his prison sentences after he expressed a desire to pay back the money.

Dalton Slangerup was ordered Wednesday to pay back money to victims of his fraud in Utah County after he serves a year in jail. The judge suspended his prison sentences after he expressed a desire to pay back the money. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)


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Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • Dalton West Slangerup, 31, from Lehi, pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges.
  • He was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to repay $90,000.
  • Judge Thomas Low emphasized restitution, stating Slangerup should live modestly until debts repaid.

PROVO — A Lehi man will pay back tens of thousands of dollars and spend time in jail after admitting to fraudulent behavior involving multiple victims after pleading guilty to fraud charges in six Utah County cases and two Tooele County cases.

Victims of his fraud say he targeted friends and family, and convinced people they could trust him.

Dalton West Slangerup, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of issuing a bad check, theft of a firearm or vehicle and two counts of theft, all second-degree felonies, plus theft, a third-degree felony, in the Utah County cases as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced to five terms of one to 15 years in prison and one term of zero to five years.

Fourth District Judge Thomas Low suspended those prison sentences, instead ordering Slangerup to serve one year in jail with credit for the 141 days he has already spent in jail. He was also sentenced to three years of probation.

In addition, he was ordered to pay a total of almost $61,000 to address the financial damages he caused in each case. In Tooele, he was ordered to pay back $31,000.

Slangerup was given the sentence suggested by both sides as part of the plea deal, but the judge said he considered veering from that. Low said reports like this one "scream prison," and restoring money to victims is a secondary concern.

"I just can't imagine so many people losing so much from one person," he said.

He told Slangerup that once he is released from jail, he will still not be free until his victims are paid back.

"You will be poor; that is my intention is that you be poor until they are made whole. You're not to have comfort, conveniences, vacations, any of those kinds of things. You're to live like a pauper until they are made whole," Low said.

Breach of trust

Ben Lamoreaux said he and a friend sold electric dirt bikes to Slangerup, losing $4,200 while his friend lost $7,000. He said he believes that Slangerup's plan was very thought out, and he had plenty of time to stop and think about what he was doing.

"We trusted this guy and then he just completely turned on me, my best friend, and plenty of other people," he said during the sentencing hearing.

He said others lost more money than he and his friend, but they are college students, and it significantly impacted their net worth.

Collin Gibbs said Slangerup approached him like a friend, taking him on trips to win him over.

"It seemed so planned out. ... He intentionally went after me," he said.

Gibbs said he spent $15,000 buying a snowmobile from Slangerup that had previously been stolen. Later, he said Slangerup contacted him about accidentally putting thousands of dollars in his account. Instead of passing it back to Slangerup, he said he called his bank and put a hold on the account, thinking it was a scam.

Another victim submitted a statement to the court, which is not public, but the judge said it was a "depressing read."

Deputy Utah County attorney Melissa Flowerday said she spoke with all of the victims of fraud except the Larry H. Miller dealership, and they were all people whose lives were dramatically changed — they lost homes, mortgages or relationships.

The reason she recommended jail instead of prison is that they "so desperately would like to be repaid," Flowerday said.

She asked the judge to revoke the probation and send him to prison if he misses payments for three months, or if there are any instances of theft or issuing a bad check while he is on probation.

A wake-up call

Mary Frandsen, Slangerup's attorney, said she believes her client is very sincere about paying back the money. She said he feels remorseful and is firmly committed to paying the money back.

"It weighs very heavily on him as it should, what has happened and what he's done," she said.

Slangerup appeared to show his commitment in the hearing by asking the judge to increase the amount he is required to pay back in his first year out of jail. He said he told his attorney he should go to prison if he misses one payment.

He added that he had been a dishonest person for the past 10 years, starting small and getting bigger. He said he has not been a hard worker because he's been deceitful, but he knows he can work hard. He said he can't imagine the psychological effect his actions have had on others.

"This has been the hardest wake-up call in my life. I've never been to jail before, and it's not a place I want to revisit," Slangerup said.

He said he has job opportunities lined up for when he is released, and, when asked, told the judge he would not be handling others' money in those positions.

Slangerup was ordered to pay back at least $500 each month, and $30,000 total in the first year, paying the entire debt after two years.

Multiple charges were dismissed when Slangerup pleaded guilty as part of a deal, including five counts of issuing a bad check over $5,000, three counts of communications fraud and three counts of theft.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Emily Ashcraft is a reporter for KSL.com. She covers issues in state courts, health and religion. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.

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