MILLARD COUNTY, Utah — Two deputies with the Millard County Sheriff's Office have been charged with obstructing justice in connection with a case they worked this past summer.
Richard Lee Warren, 45, and Taylor James Frampton, 29, were both charged Monday with two counts of obstruction of justice (one being a 3rd-degree felony and the other a Class-A misdemeanor) and two counts of misdemeanor "official misconduct."
Warren, of Scipio, is also charged with tampering with evidence, a 3rd-degree felony.
Frampton, of Fillmore, is charged with unlawfully accessing and distributing private records, although it wasn't clear whether these incidents were connected.
Court records state that on July 1, a woman (Woman #1) called police to report that another woman (Woman #2) was texting and sending messages on social media to her family members all night. Then that morning, she said Woman #2 went to her home, did "donuts" in her driveway, honked her horn for a minute straight, and said she wanted to fight Woman #1.
Woman #1 also said Woman #2 pulled a knife on a man (Man #1) the night before, June 30, threatening to kill him. Court documents state that Woman #2 and Man #1 have a child together.
Frampton was the first deputy to respond to the report from Woman #1. He also spoke with Woman #1's husband, who showed messages he received from Woman #2. Part of the incident when Woman #2 showed up outside their home was also caught on video.
Woman #1's husband also showed Frampton a text he received from Man #1 regarding Woman #2 from the night of June 30. It read: "Call the cops. She is drunk. I almost got killed last night. She said she is killing someone, Walking all over the place with a knife…. She Said she was killing someone. She pulled a knife on me in front of my kids. I really don’t know what the f is her problem. I hope she’s not on drugs."
Later that day, Deputies Frampton and Warren had a phone conversation with each other for about seven minutes. It was not known what was said, but about half an hour later, Frampton sent a group message to fellow deputies, asking if they thought they'd have any more luck than he did interviewing Man #1. Frampton said Man #1 was angry with him, and he wasn't sure if Man #1 would agree to talk to him.
Warren responded to this, saying: "hell no he hates me," according to charging documents.
The charging documents state that Warren had known Woman #2 for a long time, and they were in an "intimate relationship" in July and August.
Frampton and Warren then told Woman #1 that they would send their findings to the District Attorney's office and see where the case goes from there. Frampton told Woman #1 that he called Man #1, but he didn't answer. However, charging documents state that there was no such call on Frampton's phone records that day.
Frampton did file a report on the incident, but never submitted it to the DA's office.
Later that evening, Man #1 called the sheriff's office and asked to speak with a deputy. He told the dispatcher that Woman #2 had pulled a knife on him and "threatened to kill someone." He also allegedly said Woman #2 "has a cop friend named Rick who will not let her get in trouble."
A deputy called him back, but he did not answer.
Then on July 17, Woman #1 called to report another incident involving Woman #2 and Man #1. Warren was assigned to the case.
Warren spoke with Woman #1 on the phone, with Man #1 on speakerphone. They explained to the deputy that Woman #2 showed up to Man #1's home the previous night, and they got into an argument. She told Man #1 that she was in a sexual relationship with "a cop," then after she called someone for a ride home, a Millard County Sheriff's Office vehicle arrived to take her home. Woman #1 took a photo of the vehicle, and investigators determined that it belonged to Warren.
Warren denied having a sexual relationship with Woman #2, but told Woman #1 and Man #1 that he would turn the investigation over to another deputy because of the allegation.
Investigators found that Warren radioed in that he was in his patrol vehicle but off-duty. However, he failed to disclose that he had a lone female passenger with him, which prosecutors said is required by policy. He was later disciplined for this, along with not turning on his patrol vehicle camera during that time.
It's unclear if the case(s) involving Woman #1, Woman #2 and Man #2 are related to Frampton's other charges. The report alleges that he looked up a license plate number for a friend twice on July 20 and Aug. 21 using a law enforcement database, which was unauthorized. Within that same time frame but on different days, he also allegedly disclosed to a family member the address of a family fight, and told a family member the name of someone who was picked up in an ambulance.
Warren's and Frampton's cases were investigated by and are being prosecuted by the Utah Attorney General's Office.
The sheriff's office issued a statement Monday, saying both deputies were placed on leave once the investigation began, and they will remain on leave as an internal affairs investigation is conducted.
