A Unified Police Department officer has been placed on leave after allegedly making a fake 911 call to report a possible burglary at a South Jordan home while knowing his estranged wife was inside.
Lt. Dan McConkey, 53, of Riverton, is charged in South Jordan City’s justice court with one count each of emergency reporting abuse and obstructing justice. Both are class B misdemeanors punishable by up to six months in jail.
At about 7:50 a.m. on Sept. 3, an anonymous caller told police dispatchers that his neighbor was out of town, yet there were two vehicles parked at the home that shouldn’t be there, and that a possible burglar was inside, according to South Jordan police Lt. Matt Pennington.
But officers who went to the home, located near 4000 West and 10000 South, spoke to a woman — now known to be McConkey’s estranged wife — who said it was her son’s home.
The woman left the home with another male, Pennington said Tuesday.
Finding nothing suspicious, the officers left. But they were becoming suspicious of the 911 caller.
Though he claimed to be a neighbor, the caller had given an incorrect spelling of name of the street where the home was located, Pennington said.
And when an officer phoned the 911 caller’s number to follow up, the caller gave vague answers to questions and asked a number of questions of his own, including wanting to know who was at the home when police arrived.
Police later figured out that the 911 caller’s phone number belonged to McConkey because it was on a list of police numbers South Jordan has on file, Pennington said.
South Jordan officers notified Unified Police administrators, who asked South Jordan police to screen criminal charges against McConkey.
In a subsequent call to McConkey, he claimed someone else had called him and told him about the so-called suspicious vehicles, Pennington said.
And at one point, McConkey said he had reported a burglary in progress “knowing it was probably his wife” in the house, Pennington said, quoting from an investigative report.
McConkey was placed on administrative leave by his department on Sept. 11.
He was charged with the two misdemeanors on Sept. 22, and entered not guilty pleas earlier this month.
A scheduling hearing is set for Nov. 2 before Justice Court Judge Michael Boehm.