SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – Utah County Attorney David Leavitt held a press conference on Wednesday, calling for the resignation of Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith.
“Mr. Leavitt will be calling for Utah County Sheriff, Mike Smith, to resign and for an investigation into his activities by the proper authorities for misuse of taxpayer and county resources,” officials say.
Leavitt is also addressing allegations that he and his wife are under investigation for the alleged cannibalism and murder of children.
The allegations he’s referring to are part of a Utah County investigation into “ritualistic child sexual abuse” throughout the period of 1990 to 2010.
Leavitt says the accusation was first leveled at him by Nicholas Rossi in an online post. Rossi is a man who was arrested in Scotland after allegedly faking his own death to escape a Utah rape charge from 2008.
Rossi alleges that Leavitt and his wife are guilty of murdering and cannibalizing young children and claims this fact was confirmed by Utah County Sheriff’s PIO Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
Leavitt called the allegations “ludicrous,” “outlandish” and a “pack of lies.”
Levitt believes Rossi, whose rape charges were prosecuted by Leavitt, is aiming to retaliate against him.
He’s calling for an independent investigation into the case and how the official case documents were initially released. He also called for the resignation of Cannon.
Leavitt believes the timing of this accusation is a political move as ballots drop for the Utah County Attorney’s race next week.
“And I encourage Mike Smith, if he can, to vindicate himself that this is not done for his political purposes, for the political purposes of those who seek to eliminate me from this office,” says Leavitt. “And if there is such a link, then I call upon him to resign.”
Smith held a follow-up press conference to address the allegations on the same day.
