PROVO, Utah (ABC4) — A Lehi woman pled no contest in Provo District Court today after she was charged last September with numerous felonies, including fraud and embezzlement.
According to court documents obtained by ABC4, the Utah Attorney General’s office filed charges against Candace Lierd (formerly Candace Rivera) from back in 2022.
Those charges stem back to an anti-human trafficking non-profit organization called Exitus, of which she was found to be the founder.
Prior to the arrest, during NBA All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City (Feb. 2023), it was revealed through a podcast that Exitus became officially involved in the United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) anti-human trafficking taskforce as a victim service provider.
However, her charges go back to 2020. Court documents state that on September 1, she committed the crime of unlawful activity. This would be the first in a long list of charges for Lierd.
Originally, she was charged over 40 times. By the time of her no-contest plea, she had over 30 charges on file, through some of those charges were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they are permanently dismissed and cannot be reinstated
According to a release from Utah AG’s office, she was formally charged in Utah County back in September of 2023. She waived her right to a trial by jury and told the court that she intended to plead no contest.
No contest pleas are treated the same way as a guilty plea.
A statement of probable cause from 2023 released by the AG’s office states the following:
“Both [the Instagram and Facebook pages of Exitus] appeared to document the organization’s work in orphan rescues in Europe and solicited donations toward that effort.”
— Office for Utah Attorney General
Lierd is set to be sentenced later this year on the charges.
إرسال تعليق