Charges dismissed against ex-assistant head of Idaho Association of Highway Districts
Charges have been dismissed against the former assistant director of the Idaho Association of Highway Districts.
A grand-jury indictment last August alleged that Laura Lantz aided or abetted the head of the association in embezzling over $1,000 from the association by recording a credit in its financial records to hide the missing money. The director, Stuart Davis, faces a trial in April on seven counts of grand theft. He has pleaded not guilty.
Fourth District Judge Jonathan Medema in Boise wrote that the charge implied that Lantz aided Davis with his theft, while the events described in the indictment implied that she had helped someone who had already committed a crime to avoid being caught.
The judge questioned whether the state instead should have charged her with acting as an accessory to Davis’s crime after the fact. Because the state did not argue that Lantz should be indicted on that charge, Medema dismissed the case.
Lantz was also indicted for using a computer to aid in a crime. That charge was dismissed on the same grounds.
The indictment alleges that Davis used the embezzled funds between Nov. 12, 2013 and Sept. 1, 2014, for personal gain, including membership in a social club and a private airline company, Jetstream Aviation.
Chuck Peterson, Davis’s lawyer, declined to comment.
Last week, Ada County Highway District Director Bruce Wong sent a letter to the association announcing that ACHD was leaving it. Wong said “some of the IAHD board members were reluctant to hold the past executive director accountable for embezzling thousands of taxpayer dollars from the association.”
Davis’s trial date, originally set for Jan. 22, was rescheduled for April 22 after Deputy Attorney General David J. Morse requested it be delayed until after this year’s Idaho legislative session because at least one of its witnesses is a state legislator.
The Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on who it will call as witnesses for Davis’s trial. The only legislator on the board of IAHD is Rep. Rick Youngblood of Nampa, who is also a commissioner for Canyon County Highway District No. 4.
Youngblood did not respond to a message left on his voicemail Tuesday.
Editor’s note: Lantz’s husband, Jason Lantz, was formerly managing editor at the Idaho Statesman.
This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 2:32 PM.
