'Deadbeat' Utah employer to pay $400k in wages, taxes

A man highlighted as one of Utah's worst "deadbeat employers" in a Salt Lake Tribune story last year has been ordered to pay $400,000 in unpaid wages and taxes.

Charles Snively, 38, former owner of Salt Lake Valley Protective Services, a security guard company, pleaded guilty to two third-degree felony counts involving taxes.

Third District Judge Katie Bernards-Goodman ordered Snively to pay his former employees $98,226 in unpaid wages first and then pay more than $287,000 to the Utah Tax Commission. He was also placed on probation for six years or longer until restitution is paid. He was also ordered to pay some additional fines, including $467 for extradition costs from his residence in Aurora, Colo.

The Utah attorney general's office said in a press release Wednesday that investigators found Snively kept substantial amounts of withholding taxes he had collected from workers, which in some cases resulted in fraudulent tax refunds. The investigation also uncovered that many employees had not been paid.

A Tribune story last year about the state's worst deadbeat employers found that 59 employees of Salt Lake Valley Protective Services had filed complaints with the Utah Labor Commission saying the company had not paid them $97,256 in wages.

Workers told the Tribune that paychecks would often bounce — and the company frequently asked workers to hold checks until money was deposited to cover them later. They said they would constantly call the credit union that issued paychecks to see if any money was in accounts, and rush to cash them when it was.

"They told me to quit whenever I want, but good luck in finding another job in this economy," said claimant Jordan Westling.

Nicholas Ashby wrote in a claim that he had a pregnant wife on bed rest plus two children as bounced paychecks caused his own checks for rent and car payments to bounce. "We had to move in with [his wife's] parents," he said, and the family ended up losing their car.