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- A Farmington man, Jason Guy Rogers, was charged with stalking in 2nd District Court.
- Rogers made threats on X over the Salt Lake City's new flag designs and tried to enter Salt Lake City Hall last week, according to charging documents.
- Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall introduced the designs earlier this month.
FARMINGTON — A Davis County man is facing charges after police say he tried to enter Salt Lake City Hall after being questioned by an officer about multiple online threats against the city's mayor.
Jason Guy Rogers, 44, of Farmington, was charged with stalking, a class A misdemeanor, in 2nd District Court on Tuesday, according to court records.
Davis County prosecutors allege Rogers was behind a series of "threatening comments" on the social media platform X that started with KSL news coverage about Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall's proposal to add three new city flags to provide a way for the city continue to fly LGBTQ and Juneteenth flags after the state's new flag law, which bans all three designs and other unapproved flags from being displayed in government buildings, went into effect.
The Salt Lake City Council approved all three designs at its meeting on May 6. A day later, one post by Rogers stated that "we need to end some politicians" in response to the news coverage, the charging document states. Prosecutors say similar posts from the account were made through May 20, including one that reads: "When you see her and her family end them immediately."
Farmington police located Rogers on May 20 and questioned him about the posts.
"Rogers stated he was upset about the flag but claimed his account had been hacked. Just after the police encounter, the account made another post on the mayor's X account: 'time for action,'" the charging document states.
A security team at the Salt Lake City-County Building reported seeing Rogers arrive at City Hall shortly after 12:30 p.m. on May 20, driving the same truck and wearing the same clothing he wore during the Farmington police encounter, prosecutors added. They wrote that Rogers was seen "attempting to open side doors" of the building before trying the main entrance, but he "left without entering when he saw security officers inside."
He was arrested by Salt Lake City's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team that afternoon, according to Salt Lake City police.
Davis County prosecutors allege that Rogers "did intentionally or knowingly engage in a course of conduct directed at a specific individual and knew or should know that the course of conduct would cause a reasonable person ... to fear for the individual's own safety or the safety of a third individual or to suffer other emotional distress."
It's unclear if Rogers has obtained legal representation in the case. The online account in question has since been suspended on X.
Salt Lake City and Farmington police coordinated the investigation with Utah's Statewide Information and Analysis Center, as well as the Davis and Salt Lake county attorneys' offices, according to Salt Lake City police spokesman Brent Weisberg.
The mayor's staff was aware of the arrest, which took place just before Salt Lake City leaders met at City Hall for regular public meetings.
"The mayor's office is monitoring the situation and appreciates the swift and professional investigation by the Salt Lake City and Farmington police departments," Salt Lake City spokesman Andrew Wittenberg said last week.
