SALT LAKE COUNTY JAIL – The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office is admitting a major mistake was made, letting a jail inmate out more than a month early. Officials say Edwin Ogando should have been in jail when he reportedly stabbed a convenience store clerk multiple times in West Valley.
A statement sent from the sheriff’s office says Ogando was booked into jail on May 31st, for misdemeanor charges. On September 8th, he was sentenced in district court. However, Sheriff Rosie Rivera says a clerk at the jail made an error on the paperwork, letting Ogando out 42 days early. She says, “We let this person (out) on September 9th. He should have been out October 20th.”
Rivera would not comment on whether or not the employee has been disciplined, but, she says the clerk feels terrible about the mistake. “We can’t predict what’s going to occur in the future and our hearts do go out to the victim,” Rivera says.
The office has taken steps that Rivera believes will prevent this from happening, again. She says, “One of the things we’re doing is we’re not having the same clerk check their [own] work. So, we’ll have two people looking at the paperwork.”
Rivera says clerks are handed large stacks of paperwork every day, and those files can appear to be very confusing, even for long-time employees of her department. She also says it’s not up to them if they want to switch to an electric system, but the courts they work with would also have to change with them.