Pomeroy drops out of Utah County Attorney race in effort to unseat David Leavitt

(KUTV) — The Republican primary race for Utah County Attorney is now down to two candidates – incumbent David Leavitt and challenger Jeff Gray.

Thursday afternoon, candidate Adam Pomeroy announced he was dropping out of the race and supporting Gray.

“We just can’t beat Mr. Leavitt in a three man race, so we made the best decision for the county which was to throw support behind Jeff Gray as our next county attorney,” Pomeroy told KUTV.

Pomeroy, who is a deputy county attorney in Leavitt’s office, called Leavitt a ‘rogue prosecutor’. He criticized Leavitt for a press conference he held on Wednesday where he called for the resignation of Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith.

Leavitt alleges Smith’s department made a public announcement that it is investigating a child sex abuse ring in an effort to target him. But neither the Utah County Sheriff’s Office nor the Utah media named Leavitt as having any connection to the case until Leavitt’s press conference where he said he believes the sheriff’s office is dredging up debunked claims that Leavitt was involved in cannibalism, murder, and ritual sex abuse.

“A fellow coworker said to me today, ‘this is the first time I’ve ever been embarrassed to work for the Utah County Attorney’s Office’ and he has kind of made it a sideshow,” Pomeroy said.

Leavitt alleges he is the target of a coordinated political smear campaign by his primary challengers and Sheriff Smith. Smith has endorsed candidate Jeff Gray.

“I had no involvement, the revelation of this came as a surprise to me. As far as I know, I’m the only political adversary at this point and we had nothing to do with it.” Gray told KUTV.

Gray criticized Leavitt’s record as County Attorney, which include public disputes with law enforcement and some former prosecutors at the Utah County Attorney’s Office.

“David Leavitt’s policies – he’s not tough on crime. We need to hold criminals accountable, that’s why I’m in it,” Gray said.

Leavitt spoke with KUTV by phone Thursday evening after Pomeroy’s announcement and stood by his prior claims that the timing of the public disclosure of the UCSO sex abuse investigation is a political move.

“The Sheriff is a bully, there are checks and balances and I am not afraid to stand up and call it like it is. The criminal justice system is the biggest threat to American freedom that we’ve seen a generation. I am the biggest threat to the criminal justice bureaucracy in a generation, and it freaks them out,” Leavitt said.

• LINK: Jeff Gray Campaign
• LINK: David Leavitt Campaign

The primary race is on June 28. Ballots are expected to start arriving in mailboxes next week. Pomeroy’s name will still appear on the ballot despite his announcement that he has dropped out of the race.