Utter: ‘Mistake in personal life’ led to resignation

Former Deschutes County sheriff’s Capt. Erik Utter told NewsChannel 21 Thursday he resigned his position after he “made a mistake in my personal life that impacted my professional standing with the Sheriff’s Office,” and apologized to county residents and his former colleagues for his actions.

In a fax to reporter Pedro Quintana, Utter acknowledged what Sheriff Shane Nelson told the reporter on Wednesday – that Utter was under investigation for alleged violation of sheriff’s office policies.

In his first public statement since the resignation took effect Tuesday, Utter wrote, “I acknowledge there was an ongoing investigation at the time of my resignation.”

“I want to reiterate that it was non-criminal in nature, as stated by the sheriff,” Utter wrote. “I cooperated fully with this inquiry and provided an interview when requested by the investigator prior to my departure.”

“I did not address the inquiry when I announced my resignation as the investigation was still ongoing and confidential in nature, and doing so would have been inappropriate at that time,” the former captain continued.

“I made a mistake in my personal life that impacted my professional standing with the Sheriff’s Office.

“I take full responsibility for my actions and I want to publicly apologize to my family, the members of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and the citizens of Deschutes County,” the fax concluded.

Utter did not divulge any details of his “mistake” and in a text exchange with NewsChannel 21 declined a request for an interview about the matter.

On Wednesday, Nelson told Quintana that at the time of Utter’s resignation, which he announced last week, there was an active personnel investigation, which the sheriff stressed did not involve any alleged crimes.

The sheriff had said last week he could not speak to the reasons for Utter’s surprise departure, because he could not divulge matters about current personnel — a status that ended Tuesday for Utter, as his resignation took effect.

Nelson said Wednesday the investigation had been going on for about two weeks. He declined to detail which policy the allegation entailed, but also stressed that it was not related in any way to the criminal investigation of Former Capt. Scott Beard, who was fired Feb. 18 after his indictment on federal theft and money-laundering charges.

“We added additional layers in oversight after the allegations against Scott Beard, and also some additional double checks where the money being transferred accounted for with a little more oversight,” Nelson said.

Utter, who was in charge of the agency’s patrol unit, had said after announcing his resignation that he was leaving “to explore other opportunities in the public and private sector.” He told NewsChannel 21 by email, “I am extremely proud of my career and what the future holds for me.”

Nelson said the sheriff’s office had hired the same special investigator who handled the Scott Beard investigation to look into the claims regarding Utter. However, the sheriff said that separate investigation is now at an end, since Utter chose to resign.

On a related note, the sheriff stressed that Utter’s resignation was not submitted in lieu of termination, but came at Utter’s own choice, in respectful manner.

The sheriff said he and the remaining captain of three who held that position, Capt. Deron McMaster, are splitting up the duties for now and will be deciding on a process to fill one of the two captain vacancies, the management level just below the sheriff.

“Our priority is to the citizen that we served and keeping them safe,” Nelson said.

Nelson also said he plans to fill the second captain vacancy in the next two months.