- Blake Floyd Cozzens, ex-Iron County GOP treasurer, pleaded no contest and was sentenced for domestic violence-related charges.
- Cozzens was sentenced to 90 days in jail for assault and unlawful detention.
- He is currently serving a two-year federal sentence for embezzling from clients and obtaining fraudulent checks.
ST. GEORGE — A former Iron County GOP treasurer and Cedar City property manager sentenced in December for embezzling from clients has now resolved domestic violence-related charges.
Fifth District Judge Eric Gentry sentenced Blake Floyd Cozzens to two terms of 180 days in jail for reduced charges of unlawful detention and assault, class B misdemeanors, but suspended those terms and instead ordered him to serve 90 days in jail. He ordered the case to be closed after that time is served.
Court documents note that Cozzens can serve the term in federal custody, where he is currently serving a two-year sentence.
Cozzens, 35, of Cedar City, pleaded no contest to those two charges on April 15 as part of a plea deal. He was originally charged with kidnapping, a second-degree felony, plus damaging a phone and domestic violence in the presence of a child, class B misdemeanors.
The domestic violence charges were filed after Utah Highway Patrol troopers responded to an incident on I-15, which troopers initially determined was only a verbal fight. Later, Cozzens' wife said that he had taken her phone and thrown it into the back seat while they were driving, and then grabbed her wrist and twisted it to prevent her from retrieving her phone after she told him she would call 911.
Cozzens let his wife out of the car at the next exit so she could get her phone, but then drove off. He then returned and forced her back into the vehicle, charging documents say, despite the wife saying she did not want to get inside the car.
After she was forced back into the vehicle, the woman said Cozzens told her "that they would take her daughter and deport her because she is not a U.S. citizen."
Cozzens was convicted in federal court after being accused of embezzling $1.9 million from two accounts belonging to the Cedarbend Homeowners Association, which he manages through a business he owns, Stress Free Property Management. Federal charges also accused him of obtaining seven fraudulent cashier's checks, totaling over $1.4 million, which he exchanged for gambling credits in Las Vegas.
In addition to 25 months in prison, Cozzens was ordered to serve four years on probation and pay over $2 million in restitution.
