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MURRAY — One of the candidates who was seeking to become Utah's next attorney general is now facing a charge of bribery.
Frank Demcy Mylar, 62, of Murray, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with "bribery in elections," a third-degree felony.
Mylar is accused of offering fellow GOP attorney general candidate Trent Christensen a job if Christensen endorsed him.
"On April 19 (Mylar) sent a text message to Trent Christensen offering him a job at the Utah Attorney General's Office if he endorsed Mr. Mylar. The defendant later texted Mr. Christensen asking him to disregard the previous text. Mr. Christensen later reported the text to law enforcement," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced on Wednesday.
Christensen reported the alleged bribery offer to Murray police on May 14.
"Hey Trent. In my last day of trial and by God's grace my campaign has picked up more steam. I won in Weber and was only there 10 minutes. Overwhelmingly won Davis. If you could endorse me before the convention I would definitely include you in my office. Think about it for a few days. Thx. Good luck today," Mylar's text to Christensen stated, according to charging documents.
Christensen did not respond to the text. A little over six hours after it was sent, Mylar sent another text stating, "Please disregard that text. I'm internal. Didn't mean to send it. Sorry to bother you. It is not an offer etc. hope you are feeling better," the charges state.
He then sent two more texts "apologizing and indicating that he believed Christensen had withdrawn from the attorney general race at that time," according to the charges.
When contacted by the Deseret News in May, Mylar said the message was sent by mistake. Nathan Crane, an attorney representing Mylar, reiterated that to KSL.com Wednesday and said, "The allegations are false."
"We deny the allegation of bribery in the election," Crane said. "There was no intent by Mr. Mylar to bribe anyone or make any elicit offers for anything."
Crane said Mylar quickly followed up with Christensen via text and phone call to make clear he wasn't trying to make an offer.
"There was a text sent and Frank did his level best to make sure there was no confusion with a follow-up text and phone call," Crane said. "The fact that it's gone this far is disappointing."
He said his client intends to enter a not guilty plea, should the case move forward after a preliminary hearing.
Christensen said he waited a few weeks to report the message because it came right in the thick of the campaign, but he believes he had an "ethical duty" to do so.
"Just on its face, I was shocked. It's a quid pro quo," Christensen said. "In the heat of these things, people can do silly things, things that they wouldn't otherwise do. But it was shocking to me."
Mylar lost in the GOP primary last month to Derek Brown. Christensen left the race in April after failing to get enough votes from delegates at the state GOP convention.
"We appreciate Mr. Christensen coming forward with the information about this alleged crime in a timely manner to law enforcement," Gill said Wednesday.
Mylar has run a private practice for over two decades, focusing on constitutional and government litigation, law enforcement, civil rights and religious liberty. Before that, he worked in the attorney general's office for 12 years and served as director of legal affairs for the Utah Department of Corrections.
Contributing: Bridger Beal-Cvetko, Daniel Woodruff
