Overview
- The April 9 incident, prosecutors say, involved clerks Jennifer Joma and Lauren Kelsey Morrow using court databases to identify non-citizens and escorting several people out a maintenance door to avoid an ICE officer waiting to make an arrest.
- A federal grand jury returned an indictment on June 3 that was unsealed in early June and charges the two with conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens, harboring illegal aliens, and obstruction of Department of Homeland Security proceedings, with Joma facing an extra transporting count.
- Prosecutors released surveillance images they say show the women waving at a courthouse camera after moving people out of the building and say Joma later drove three non-citizens away from the courthouse before returning to work.
- Both women resigned from the Logan Justice Court, were arrested and booked into Salt Lake County Jail after the unsealing, and were scheduled for federal arraignment with release conditions noted by prosecutors.
- Homeland Security Investigations is leading the probe, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting, senior Homeland Security officials vowed strict enforcement, and the case joins a string of recent federal actions targeting courthouse interference by court staff.