Ron Gibson, the Utah Farm Bureau Federation’s former president and dairy farmer who was charged with assaulting an employee, saw his Class B misdemeanor charge dismissed.
On Aug. 31, a Weber Justice Court dismissed the charge against Gibson “without prejudice.” But, the case can be refiled if prosecutors choose to.
“There was a little confusion over the jurisdiction,” Weber County Attorney Christopher Allred told the Standard-Examiner. “Initially, it went to [the city of] Hooper, and I believe it took some time to sort that out. It’s been determined that it was in the unincorporated area of Weber County rather than Hooper, so Hooper dropped it.”
Now, the Weber County Attorney’s Office will decide whether or not to refile the charges.
What events led up to the charges?
According to the Weber County Sheriff’s Office, Gibson was initially arrested and booked into the Weber County Jail on Aug. 8 on suspicion of assaulting an employee.
Weber’s deputies responded to an incident at one of Gibson’s farms, where officials said the alleged victim placed a 9-1-1 call.
The affidavit states that the farmworker had confronted Gibson after not being paid. A video showed Gibson telling the victims to “shut up” in Spanish and then striking the worker in the face.
At the time, Gibson was also accused of human trafficking and fraud, but no further reports of the allegations have been made public. The Department of Public Safety’s Special Bureau of Investigation is investigating the allegations of fraud and trafficking, and the investigation is ongoing.
However, a few weeks after the initial event, Gibson’s lawyer released more information on what Gibson says transpired.
»Related: Labor Department proposes rule to protect temporary farm workers
Gibson’s lawyer shares more details
“That action was 100 percent out of character for Gibson,” the attorney, Steve Burton of Intermountain Legal, told Capital Press.
According to Burton, the circumstances surrounding the incident are complex, and the worker that he hit was someone with whom Gibson had a history of issues.
At the farm where Gibson milks 1,500 dairy cows, Burton reported that milk margins have been poor with last year’s produce crop (the farm also raises feed crops and onions) and dropped significantly.
To address the lack in revenue, Burton said that Gibson had offered the workers limited hours of eight hours per day, five days per week, or to hold one of their two paychecks until the new crop came in.
The workers all supposedly agreed to have one paycheck held back instead of reducing hours. Out of 60 workers, 13 confronted Gibson about the withheld paychecks on Aug. 8.
Burton indicates that after the confrontation, Gibson issued the withheld checks to the workers, and 14 employees resigned.
Following the incident, Gibson apologized and resigned from his positions at the Utah Farm Bureau Federation and as a member of the board of directors for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
»Related: Labor Department proposes rule to protect temporary farm workers
