Photo: Utah County Jail
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Court documents say a licensed, armed security guard who tried multiple times to become a police officer is now facing felony charges — because he wasn’t supposed to have weapons in the first place.
Charging documents say Jonathan Richardson, 23, was accused of stalking multiple women at Weber State University, despite not being a student or an employee there.
The Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing lists Richardson as having a license to be a private armed security guard.
In February, charging documents say Richardson tried to buy a handgun to attend Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST. Police officers in Utah must first be certified by POST before any department can hire them. A background check turned up a 2013 case in the juvenile system that kept him from buying that gun.
Court documents show that 2013 case involved “sexual abuse of a child, which had it been committed by an adult would have been a second-degree felony.” Through that case, Richardson is barred from possessing or buying firearms until 2023.
Richardson’s record also includes convictions in 2015 for shoplifting and 2016 for theft.
State investigators learned the Marines discharged Richardson in 2018 “for a pattern of misconduct;” he is not eligible for reenlistment.
More recently, he had been demoted in his work as an armed security guard to an unarmed position because of some complaints about excessive use of force.
The Deseret News reports investigators serving a search warrant on Richardson’s home in Eagle Mountain found a loaded gun in his bedroom, another in his vehicle, and multiple sets of body armor.
Investigators say Richardson tried at least three times to become a police officer by applying to POST.