FBI conducting review of allegations surrounding Ephraim Police Department
John Hales
Staff writer
7/27/2017
EPHRAIM—Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have been in Ephraim for what the agency is calling a “review” of the allegations swirling around the Ephraim City Police Department in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, the Messenger confirmed that the FBI was looking at the case in a manner that was described by the agency’s Salt Lake City Regional Office spokeswoman, Sandra Barker, as preliminary.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the matter,” Barker told the Messenger.
Barker confirmed that federal agents had been in Ephraim recently, but declined to say specifically what they had been doing.
“Just because we do a review does not mean that it will necessarily lead to an official investigation,” she cautioned. “It has to reach to a level of federal criminal statutes.”
She did, however, quash rumors that agents had retrieved and removed documents from city or police department offices.
There are a number of ways the FBI can initiate such reviews, but Barker confirmed a tip had been received about the case, which by then had been publicized in local and statewide news outlets.
“We were aware of it when we heard about it in the media,” she said.
