CEDAR CITY — A former jail commander pleaded not guilty Wednesday during a court hearing where he was charged with multiple felonies involving allegations of wrongdoing.
Fifth District Judge John Walton arraigned Galen Bret Allred, formally charging him with four third-degree felonies for misuse of public monies.
Allred, 46, was employed with the Iron County Sheriff’s Office for more than 20 years. Of those, he served the last 10 years as the jail commander for the Iron County Correctional Facility where he resigned last February amid the allegations.
Millard County Attorney Patrick Finlinson is prosecuting the case against Allred due to a conflict of interest by the Iron County Attorney’s Office.
Allred is scheduled to appear before the court again March 22. Finlinson told the judge during Wednesday’s arraignment he believed the case may be resolved by then. Allred’s attorney Doug Terry agreed, indicating the parties may be working on a plea agreement.
According to court documents, Allred allegedly misused public monies on or about March 12, 2015, and twice on June 25, 2015. There is also an incident alleged to have happened on Jan. 8, 2016. The details of those incidents were not available.
However, the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council recently disciplined Allred citing the use of a county credit card for personal expenditures as the reason. The Council revoked the former deputy’s peace officer certification.
Lt. Del Schlosser said the sheriff’s office first discovered the credit card charges in January 2016. Schlosser did not provide details of the case or the findings of an internal investigation.
Court documents ordered Allred to report to the Iron County Correctional Facility to be booked on the charges prior to his first court date in October. He was released immediately.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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