Ex-prosecutor pleads guilty

I.F.'s Kimball Mason admits to charges of grand theft, falsifying public records

By PHIL DAVIDSON

pdavidson@postregister.com

Former Idaho Falls Prosecutor Kimball Mason has agreed to plead guilty to the three felony charges filed against him by the Idaho attorney general's office in order to spare himself from further prosecution, court records indicate.

Mason struck a plea bargain with the state, admitting to two counts of grand theft and one count of falsifying a public record and acknowledging "guilt and wrongdoing for a number of similar counts that he has taken responsibility for but is not being charged with," according to testimony from Jay Rosenthal, special prosecuting attorney for Bonneville County, at Mason's probable cause hearing Monday.

The court file, an audio recording, did not include the written plea agreement.

Rosenthal said the agreement came at the request of Mason's attorney, Fred Hoopes, and was "an attempt to resolve the many criminal charges that at the end of our investigation were prepared to be filed against Mr. Mason."

Mason has waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Hoopes declined to comment, saying he was not going to litigate it in the press.

"It will unfold as it unfolds," he said.

Rosenthal also told the court Monday that Mason agreed to a suspended penitentiary sentence that would include local jail time and would surrender his law license.

Mason, Idaho Falls' city prosecutor since 1993 until resigning in January, made $112,000 a year ago. He supplemented that income with guns he illegally obtained through the city's police department evidence locker, according to the attorney general's complaint.

One of the guns listed in the theft charges against him, a Ruger .357 revolver, was seized June 25, 2004, by police in connection with the arrest of Gregory Saiz, who was sentenced to prison after facing charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping and rape.

Mason, who had no involvement with the case, allegedly brought an order that he had signed to the police department's evidence custodian on July 17, 2005, stating that the gun was to be released to him.

He then traded the revolver to Ski's House of Guns, where he received a .32 Derringer firearm, the attorney general's office alleges. Idaho Code says guns seized by police officers are either to be destroyed, converted for police use or sold. Mason allegedly told investigators he kept the .32 Derringer for his own use.

On the other grand-theft charge, Mason allegedly seized a Lorcin 9 mm semiautomatic from the police department's evidence custodian May 3, 2001, without a judge's signed order. In early 2005, Mason gave the gun to Idaho Falls defense attorney Kelly Mallard, who had just returned from serving in Iraq. Mallard, who Rosenthal said had no knowledge that the gun was improperly seized from the city, has since returned the gun.

Mason also allegedly doctored a court order signed by Magistrate Judge Keith Walker.

On Feb. 2, 2004, he allegedly gave the custodian the order, which stated that a Phoenix Arms .25 semiautomatic be forfeited to the city. However, in the same case, officers also confiscated two pairs of binoculars, a monocular and a cassette player that Walker did not order to be forfeited but Mason allegedly added in his own handwriting in the court document. Mason kept the items, and Walker told investigators he was shocked his order had been changed, the attorney general's office alleges.

Mason has until April 3 to appear before a judge on the charges. He was issued a summons to appear in court instead of an arrest warrant.

Bob Cooper, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said although Rosenthal requested a summons, it must be ordered by a judge.

Meanwhile, Idaho Falls Mayor Jared Fuhriman announced Tuesday that the city would contract with Bonneville County and Prosecuting Attorney Dane Watkins Jr.'s office for $104,000 a year until December 2007 to take over Mason's caseload.

Fuhriman said Tuesday that he doesn't condone Mason's actions, but wouldn't distance himself from him, either.

"Kimball's put a lot of time and effort into this community," he said. "People make mistakes."

Cops and courts reporter Phil Davidson can be reached at 542-6750.