MT. PLEASANT, Sanpete County — A former Mt. Pleasant police officer is facing charges accusing him of charging the city money for hours he didn't actually work.
Nathan Taylor, 47, was charged Friday in Sanpete County's 6th District Court with misusing public funds and theft, second-degree felonies. To avoid a conflict of interest, the case was investigated by the Gunnison Valley Police Department, and a prosecutor from the Iron County Attorney's Office has been assigned to handle the criminal charges.
According to a press release issued Friday by the North Valley Police Department in Mount Pleasant — which was formed earlier this year when the Mt. Pleasant and Fairview police departments combined — an investigation was launched in May into an officer who was allegedly "working a second job while working at the same time for Mt. Pleasant city. The officer was essentially getting paid by two different jobs for the same hour worked."
Taylor was placed on leave pending an internal investigation which found the officer "had also falsified his time logs or time cards to reflect hours worked that were not actually worked in which he was paid for," the department said.
Taylor was fired in June after the internal investigation was completed.
"It truly is a sad day for us as a small police agency because everyone who works for our agency or agencies is like family," North Valley Police Chief Steve Gray said.
