Someone used the Summit County Jail's inmate welfare account to make fraudulent payments to Verizon for nearly three years, draining more than $40,000 before investigators caught on.

Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates confirmed the details on KPCW's Local News Hour on Monday, Aug. 3, saying the account funds programs for incarcerated people and is not supported by taxpayer dollars.

"The money is used for programming, education, treatment programs," Bates said. "It's used to buy TVs. It's used to buy exercise equipment. It's used to buy the seeds… for the garden."

The account, held at Wells Fargo, generated its funds through inmate services and labor. Deputies obtained a search warrant in March and reviewed Verizon's records, finding payments had been made once or twice a month from October 2022 through mid-2025, according to KPCW.

No suspects have been identified. Investigators do not believe current or former Sheriff's Office employees are responsible. As we reported July 30, the department characterized the case as external criminal fraud early in the investigation.

The Sheriff's Office has not disclosed how an outside party gained access to the bank account.

Scams surging countywide

The jail account fraud comes amid a sharp rise in scams across Summit County. So far in 2026, 207 scams have been reported countywide, up from 140 by the same point last year, a roughly 48 percent increase.

Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Skyler Talbot said the department itself isn't exempt from the trend. He urged residents to watch for inconsistencies in their banking statements and report suspicious activity.

The Sheriff's Office has not officially linked the jail fraud to the broader scam wave, but the timing tracks with what Park City Police Department Lt. Danielle Snelson described in a mid-July scam warning as a rise in both the frequency and sophistication of fraud targeting local residents. That warning came after scammers posed as the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission and sent fake bills to residents, including a prominent developer.

No charges have been filed. No timeline has been announced for the investigation's next steps. Residents who suspect fraud can report it to local law enforcement, scams.utah.gov or the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center.