MISSION

The mission of the
Cache County Sheriff’s Office
is to provide community protection,
crime prevention, deputy safety, and
a well-trained professional staff
by working cooperatively with
the citizens we serve.

VALUES

Respect
Fairness
Empathy
Responsibility
Professionalism
Trustworthiness

MISSION

VALUES

Respect
Fairness
Empathy
Responsibility
Professionalism
Trustworthiness

The Sheriff's Of Cache County (mouse over Sheriff's name to see more detail)
William Henry Garr	1857-58
Samuel Park	1859-60
Thomas Edwin Ricks	1861-64
Alvin Crockett	1865-82
Nickolas W. Crookston *	1882-90
James Kirkbride	1890-96
Fred Turner	1897-98
Emer Crockett	1899-00
George Clark Rigby	1901-04
Thomas M. Smith	1905-08
Nickolas W. Crookston *	1909-12
Jerry Henry Barker	1913-20
Miles L. Peterson	1921-26
William Henry Shaw	1927-30
Jefferson Stowell	1931-46
Wesley G. Malmberg	1947-69
Darius W. Carter	1970-78
D. Douglas Bodrero	1979-85
Sidney P. Groll	1985-97
G. Lynn Nelson	1997- Present

* Nickolas Crookston served two separate times as Sheriff.

SHERIFF FRED TURNER August 17, 1847 -- March 18, 1915, age 68 Fred Turner was born in London, England. He was a polygamist having three wives. He was active politically having served as a Cache County commissioner and a Logan City
councilman. He managed an implement house in Logan and served as Sheriff during 1897 and 1898.

Cache Valley's first known semi-permanent residents were native American Shoshoni and Blackfoot tribes who came to hunt deer and other wildlife. Fur trappers and explorers, including Jim Bridger, also spent time in the area. The county derives its name from the "caches" of furs that were temporarily buried in the valley by trappers before being taken to the large fur markets in St. Louis and other eastern cities.

Mormon pioneers, immigrating from the Salt Lake area at the direction of Brigham Young, made permanent settlements in Cache Valley in the early 1850s. Utah became a U.S. Territory on September 9, 1850. In 1854, the Utah Territorial Legislature formally established the office of Sheriff. William Henry Garr was appointed the first Sheriff of Cache County on April 4, 1857. Later sheriffs were elected for two year terms.

The first recorded criminal case in Cache County was a warrant from Salt Lake County for the arrest of William W. Lutz on a charge of larceny in April of 1860. The first prisoner, arrested in June 1860, had to be kept in the new log school house, as there was no jail. After three days he was killed during an escape attempt.

The Old Rock Jail was used from 1887 to the early 1960s. At that point a new Cache County Sheriff's Office and Jail building was built in the same location. This building was occupied and expanded until 2004 when Sheriff G. Lynn Nelson's dream came to fruition. In May of 2004 the Sheriff's Office and Jail moved into a new Sheriff’s Complex located at 1225 West Valley View.

SHERIFF THOMAS EDWIN RICKS
July 21, 1828 -- September 28, 1901, age 73

Thomas Edwin Ricks was born in Kentucky and was a prominent explorer of the northern Utah and southern Idaho areas. He discovered Ricks Springs in Logan Canyon. Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho was named

in his honor. He was shot three times while pursuing native Americans who had allegedly stolen his oxen. Sheriff Ricks made Cache County’s first recorded arrest, a thief on a warrant from Salt Lake County. He shot and killed alleged cattle rustler David Skeen during an escape attempt. Having been cleared of the shooting by a coroner’s inquest, Sheriff Ricks was, fourteen years later, indicted for murder by a grand jury and then acquitted of the crime at trial. He served as Sheriff from 1861 to 1864.

SHERIFF WILLIAM HENRY GARR
August 16, 1831 --
November 24, 1876, age 45

William Henry Garr was appointed by Territorial Probate Judge Peter Maughan as Cache County’s first Sheriff and served during 1857 and 1858. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and at age sixteen crossed the plains with Brigham Young walking from Nauvoo, Illinois arriving in Salt

Lake City in the fall of 1847. He was employed as a cowboy at the Elkhorn Ranch, which was near present day Nibley, at the time he was appointed Sheriff. The county population at the time was 150 souls concentrated primarily at Maughan’s Fort (now Wellsville) and the Elkhorn Ranch.

SHERIFF ALVIN CROCKETT
October 19, 1831 -- 1902, age 71

Alvin Crockett was born in Maine, immigrated to Utah in 1849 and settled in Cache County in 1860. He was the first mayor of Logan City and also served as the city marshall of Logan. He was elected Sheriff in 1865 and

served until 1882. On Valentine’s Day 1873, Sheriff Crockett’s younger brother, David, was shot to death by Charlie Benson. Benson was arrested and jailed. A few days later, a vigilante mob broke into the jail overcoming Sheriff Crockett and Logan Marshall Mark Fletcher and seized the alleged murderer Benson. Benson was taken to Main Street near the site of the Old White Court house where he was hanged by the neck and died.

SHERIFF NICKOLAS W. CROOKSTON
October 22, 1857 -- June 7, 1932,
age 74

Nicholas W. Crookston was the first Sheriff of Cache County to be born in Utah. He served as Sheriff from 1882 to 1890 and then again from 1909 to 1912. During his term a bank robber

was arrested in the Franklin Basin area of Logan Canyon and his loot is supposedly still buried there. Sheriff Crookston saw through the construction of a new rock county jail which stood about a hundred feet southwest of the county courthouse currently located at 179 North main Street. As a sixteen year old, Nick witnessed the lynching of accused murderer Charlie Benson in February 1873 on Logan’s Main Street during the administration of Sheriff Alvin Crockett.

SHERIFF JAMES KIRKBRIDE
June 29, 1851 -- March 19, 1904, age 52

James Kirkbride was born in England. He was brought to the United States by his aunt and uncle and eventually settled in Smithfield. His parents intended to come to America but never made the trip, thus he never really knew his own parents. He was a farmer by occupation

as well as serving on the city council of Smithfield, Utah. He served as Sheriff from 1890 to 1896. During his term a prisoner escaped through the roof of the jail and let himself down to the ground by bed sheets which were tied together. Sheriff Kirkbride and his deputy later recaptured the escapee. James Kirkbride died in Freedom, Wyoming after having fallen from a horse in the winter time and froze to death before he could be found.

SHERIFF THOMAS M. SMITH January 10, 1858 -- December 4, 1919, age 61 Thomas H. Smith served as Sheriff from 1905 to 1908. He also owned one of the first coal companies in the Cache Valley area which was located on 600 West and 100 South in Logan. He came to Cache County in 1859. He was also a horse breeder.

SHERIFF GEORGE CLARK RIGBY February 22, 1862 -- April 1, 1921, age 59 George Clark Rigby was born in Wellsville, Utah and was the ninth person to occupy the position of Cache County Sheriff serving from 1901 to 1904. At various times he also served as the constable of Newton and the justice
of the peace. He was a baseball enthusiast and enjoyed playing the game. Sheriff Rigby tracked down lawbreakers either on horseback or in a one-horse buggy. He lived the majority of his life in Cache County where he and his wife raised thirteen children. He is buried in the Newton Cemetary.

SHERIFF EMER CROCKETT February 25, 1852 -- August 18, 1920, age 68 Emer Crockett served as Sheriff in 1899 and 1900. He was an athletic man standing over six feet tall and often engaged in wrestling matches with local native Americans. He worked as a logger and road builder and also worked on the construction of the
Logan Temple. He farmed 600 acres in Greenville which is now known as North Logan.

SHERIFF MILES L. PETERSON
October 5, 1887 -- January 6, 1938,
age 50

Miles L. Peterson was a veteran of World War 1, but otherwise spent most of his life in Cache Valley. He was a farmer by occupation in the Petersboro area. During his term as Sheriff from 1921 to 1926 he devoted his full attention to the office leaving the

responsibilities of the farm to employees and family. Sheriff Peterson had one deputy, one car, one motorcycle and one telephone to manage law enforcement in Cache County. After his term as Sheriff ended, he served as a deputy to Sheriff Will Shaw.

SHERIFF JOHN HENRY BARKER November 2, 1863 -- September 17, 1954, age 90 John Henry Barker lived in Providence, Cache Junction and Newton and served as Sheriff for eight years from 1913 to 1920. He served for many years as a deputy sheriff and was courageous in his duties. He was active in other civic
affairs including serving on the draft board during World War 1 and as a justice of the peace in the Petersboro District. His telephone number during the time he served as Sheriff was 684R2.

SHERIFF SAMUEL PARK August 14, 1828 -- May 28, 1898, age 69 Samuel Park immigrated to the United States having been born in Ireland. He was hired as a teamster in the East and drove a wagon to Utah arriving in Salt Lake City in September 1855. Park was employed
as a rock hauler for the Salt Lake Temple. He was appointed Sheriff by Territorial Probate Judge Peter Maughan in May 1859 and had a ten-month tenure to March 1860. By this time five more towns had been settled in Cache County including Mendon, Providence, Richmond, Smithfield and Logan. Sheriff Park appointed the county’s first deputy sheriff, Martin Harris, Jr. of Smithfield.

SHERIFF WILLIAM HENRY SHAW April 28, 1870 -- January 3, 1963, age 92 William Henry Shaw was born and died in Paradise, Utah. Sheriff Shaw was appointed by the Cache County Commission to fill the tern of Don C. Benson who was elected Sheriff in 1927 but never took office due to an
extended illness. Sheriff Shaw served from 1927 to 1930.

SHERIFF DARIUS W. CARTER April 30, 1939 -- Darius W. Carter was born in Park Valley, Utah and served as Sheriff from 1970 to 1978. He served as a deputy to Sheriff Malmberg prior to being elected. He grew up ranching in Park Valley, worked as a security officer at Utah State University and for the Logan City
Police Department prior to coming to the Sheriff’s Office. He was one of the first peace officers from Cache County to attend the FBI National Academy in Washington, D.C. He negotiated some of the first contracts between the Sheriff’s Office and municipalities for law enforcement services.

SHERIFF WESLEY G. MALMBERG
August 26, 1907 -- March 24, 2000, age 92

Sheriff Malmberg was born in Clarkston, Utah and spent his life in Cache County. He was a deputy to Sheriff Jeff Stowell for over nine years before being elected Sheriff in 1947 and retired twenty four years later in

1969 having held the office longer than any other Sheriff in the county’s history. He helped to bring modern methods of criminal investigation, most notably, fingerprinting to county law enforcement. It was during his administration that a law enforcement building, including a jail, was built in 1963 at 50 West 200 North in Logan. This replaced the old rock jail built in 1887. He had a reputation for impeccable honesty and fairness which was evident by the fact that he, as a Democrat, was elected to term after terms in an overwhelmingly Republican County.

SHERIFF JEFFERSON STOWELL February 8, 1884 -- May 17, 1957, age 73 Sheriff Stowell served from 1931 to 1946 and was active in attempting to enforce the Volstead Act in Cache County. As a child he lived in Arizona on the Navajo Indian reservation where his father had a trading post.
Sheriff Stowell was well respected, compassionate and loved by children. He often took prisoners that needed a helping hand to his own home where they were given a meal and their clothes washed by the Sheriff’s wife. He was a “J. Edgar Hoover era” sheriff as is evident from his photograph and had been commended by FBI Director Hoover for his service in law enforcement.

SHERIFF G. LYNN NELSON July 29, 1956 -- G. Lynn Nelson became a deputy sheriff in 1979. He holds degrees from Weber State University in criminal justice and computer science and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Washington, D.C. He was appointed Sheriff in July 1997 to fill the remainder of Sheriff
Groll’s term and was elected in November 1998. The Sheriff’s Office now contracts law enforcement services to the majority of the county’s cities with an office of ninety deputies and staff. Sheriff Nelson has been active in leading the Sheriff’s Office during unprecedented growth as the Cache County Sheriff’s Office enters the New Millennium marking it’s 143rd year of service.

SHERIFF SIDNEY P. GROLL
July 19, 1951 --

After graduating with a degree in social work, Sidney Groll became a deputy to Sheriff Carter in 1973 and was appointed Sheriff in 1985 to fill the remainder of Sheriff Bodrero’s term. He was a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Washington, D.C. and obtained a degree

in police science from Weber State University. He prevailed in the next election and held the office until 1997 when he accepted a position as the director of the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy in Salt Lake City. Sheriff Groll was exceptionally active in state law enforcement organizations including the Utah Sheriffs’ Association, the Crime Victim’s Reparations Board and the UPOST Council. During his administration the jail was expanded and an emergency operations center and new administrative offices were added to the Sheriff’s Office complex.

SHERIFF D. DOUGLAS BODRERO August 16, 1948 -- D. Douglas Bodrero joined the Sheriff’s Office as a dispatcher under Sheriff Wesley G. Malmberg advancing to chief deputy sheriff under Sheriff Darius Carter. He held a degree in police science from Weber State University and was a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Washington D.C. He was elected
Sheriff in 1979 holding the office until 1985 when he joined Utah’s Department of Public Safety eventually being appointed commissioner. Sheriff Bodrero was very active in state public safety and political circles as well as lecturing on law enforcement subjects throughout the state.

	Sheriff's Office Buildings
	1887-1963	1963-2004	2004 -Present

MISSION

VALUES

MISSION

VALUES

History