Editors Note: This article was originally published in the Dec. 6, 2023 issue of the Chronicle Progress. Some information may be outdated.
Officer in romantic relationship with suspect in July domestic incident in Fillmore
The Utah Attorney General’s Office filed felony criminal charges Monday against two Millard County Sheriff’s deputies.
Deputies Taylor James Frampton and Richard Lee Warren were charged in connection to two incidents in Fillmore in July involving a domestic dispute and a suspect the officers allegedly sought to protect from a potential criminal investigation, according to Fourth District Court records in the matter.
Warren appears to be facing the more serious charges, including two third-degree felony counts of obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence. He also faces multiple misdemeanor charges, including one Class A count of obstruction and two Class B counts of official misconduct.
Frampton was charged with one third-degree felony count of obstruction of justice and multiple misdemeanor counts, including one Class A count of obstruction, two Class B counts of official misconduct, one Class B count of access/ dissemination of criminal/ technical records and one Class B count of intentional disclosure of private records.
Warren and Frampton’s legal woes began July 1 when Frampton responded to a call from a woman alleging another woman was texting her and family members, doing donuts in her driveway, honking her horn and telling the victim she wanted to fight her, according to a probable cause statement filed by an AG’s Office public corruption investigator.
The reporting party also informed the deputy the suspect had threatened a male known to the victim the day before with a knife, saying the suspect was going to kill him.
The victim, identified in the statement only by her initials, also showed Frampton a video of the suspect, identified by her initials R.G. in court records, and her erratic driving. According to the probable cause statement, R.G. and the male she allegedly threatened with a knife share a child, “which makes them cohabitants under Utah law.”
“The act of pulling a knife on a cohabitant and trying to kill the cohabitant would be considered aggravated assault, a third degree felony, with a domestic violence attribute,” the probable cause statement reads, adding that special instructions are outlined in state law for law enforcement reporting such incidents.
Frampton allegedly asked the reporting party what she wanted done about the incident and the female victim said she wanted charges pressed against R.G.
At one point Frampton asked the victim’s husband if he wanted to also make a statement. The husband, identified by his initials as well, showed the officer another video of the suspect driving erratically as well as a text message from the male victim who was allegedly threatened with a knife.
“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,” the male victim’s text to the female victim’s husband allegedly read.
At some point during the initial stages of the investigation, Frampton called Warren, who was also on duty at the time.
The two deputies went to interview R.G., who allegedly told the pair she did do a donut in the driveway of the female complainant’s home. As for the knife incident the night before, R.G. denied the incident occurred. Eventually Warren supposedly warned the suspect she could be charged for disorderly conduct and reckless driving, according to court records.
But then the probable cause affidavit begins to reveal that Warren and the suspect know each other well and even developed an intimate sexual relationship with one another by August.
It also describes how Frampton decided to alert the female victim in the case that nothing was probably going to be done about the incident.
“Now I need you to come help me to explain to (female victim) why nothing is being done, because you are buddies with them too,” Frampton is alleged to have told Warren.
Eventually Frampton decided to tell the victim a report would be filed with the county attorney’s office, that both deputies would contact the county attorney but that this was “your (Warren’s) investigation.”
“Basically, at this point, I’m probably just going to type the report up, send the video in, and have the county attorney see what he wants to do,” Frampton allegedly told the female victim, adding later that, “I need to get more info about the knife thing.”
Frampton allegedly told the female victim he called the male knife victim to get more information, but the victim didn’t answer. The deputy told an AG’s Office investigator that he probably should have left a message but didn’t. Investigators later alleged Frampton’s phone records indicated no such phone call took place that day.
Later, Frampton filed a two-paragraph report on the matter, alluding to discussing the knife incident with neighbors who didn’t witness any such incident. The male knife victim, however, later filed his own police report, calling dispatch and saying the suspect who threatened him with a knife “has a cop friend named Rick who will not let her get in trouble.”
A third deputy attempted to take the male victim’s statement without success, according to the probable cause statement in the case against Warren.
Frampton, the statement reads, also never sent his report “to the Millard County Attorney’s Office or any other prosecuting agency.”
By July 17, more than two weeks later, the female victim in the case called to report another incident involving R.G. and the male victim the night before. Warren was dispatched to the call, according to court records. During the call the male victim alleged R.G. was at his house the night before, the two argued and the woman called a deputy to come pick her up. The male victim took a photo of the deputy’s vehicle and it happened to be Warren who had picked the woman up.
“He (Warren) was off-duty but had notified dispatch that he was 10-41A, meaning he was in his vehicle and could respond if exigent circumstances required. Defendant did not notify dispatch or the Millard County Sheriff’s Office that he had a lone female in his patrol vehicle, which is required by policy. He did not activate his camera. He drove R.G. to her home,” the probable cause statement reads.
At some point the male and female victims confronted Warren with the allegation that he was in a relationship with R.G. He denied that he was but assured them he would turn their case over to another officer as a result of their allegation. During the same day the July 17 investigation was taking place, Warren allegedly called the male victim and asked him “not to say anything or tell anyone about this as he would lose his job and family,” the probable cause statement reads.
Warren was disciplined three days later by the sheriff’s office for breaking policies, including not activating his camera inside his patrol car during his conversation with the victims, for failing to activate it when he was alone with the female suspect, for failing to take a report on the July 16 incident and for failing to log his trip to R.G.’s home on his radio log.
Things worsened for Warren and Frampton when the female victim contacted the county attorney’s office on July 31 and inquired about the domestic violence report Frampton was supposed to file in the July 1 incident.
County Attorney Pat Finlinson told the victim no such report was filed. The county attorney later contacted Sheriff Richard Jacobson and both agreed an outside agency should be brought in.
“In their conversation, Sheriff Jacobson and Mr. Finlinson decided there needed to be an investigation into whether Defendant’s relationship with R.G. had affected the performance of Defendant’s duties,” court records show.
During the investigation, a check of Warren’s phone records indicated some items had been deleted, including some 50 photos of R.G. and the deputy.
“A copy of Defendant’s phone records from Verizon showed multiple calls to and from R.G. between July 12, 2023 and August 14, 2023,” investigators reported.
Meanwhile, when investigators were looking into Frampton’s role in protecting R.G. from prosecution they discovered multiple incidents where the deputy allegedly improperly accessed law enforcement databases, accessed non-public records and shared confidential medical and law enforcement information with family members.
Both deputies were summonsed to the Millard County Jail in lieu of arrest once charges were filed. A Dec. 20 court date was set for both men to appear in Fourth District Court. Both deputies are required to surrender for booking within 10 days of their initial court date.
Millard Sheriff’s officials issued a small press release regarding the charges filed against the deputies Monday afternoon when media outlets began to inquire about them.
The sheriff’s office reported the investigation of Warren and Frampton began in August.
“Both deputies had been placed on leave during the investigation and remain on leave pursuant to an internal affairs investigation,” the release states.
The sheriff referred questions to the AG’s Office.
The Chronicle Progress was unable to obtain contact information for Frampton or Warren. It was not clear Monday whether they had obtained legal representation.
The female suspect described in court records, R.G., was contacted by the newspaper—her name is being withheld by the newspaper because she has not been charged with a crime. R.G. said she was surprised criminal charges were filed against the deputies. She confirmed she did become intimately involved with Warren, but also described how the entire situation stems from a falling out with an ex-relation. She said both deputies have had past run-ins with the male victim and are familiar with previous incidents involving her and the male.
In fact, in one section of the AG’s Office probable cause statement, an effort by Frampton to contact the male victim during the July 1 incident is described where both Frampton and Warren allegedly say the male victim dislikes them.
“He’s pissed at me, so I don’t think he will talk to me,” Frampton is alleged to have told other deputies during the July 1 incident.
“Hell no he hates me,” Warren allegedly wrote at the same time when asked if anyone can contact the male victim.
R.G. told the Chronicle Progress the male victim became jealous when he discovered she was seeing Warren. She described him as “an obsessed ex.”
“I call total bulls****,” R.G. said of the entire ordeal. “It came from an ex that had hard feelings that I was involved with a police officer. We were friends prior to the relations that we had. Even so when we were friends, he (the male victim) had issues with that. He didn’t like Warren to begin with.”
