Ogden police chief blasts former officer in sexual misconduct case, his sentencing

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Ogden Police Chief Jake Sube issued a statement criticizing ex-officer Colten Johansen and the sentence he received in his sexual misconduct case.
• Sube said his department acted quickly on learning of the charges against Johansen in 2024.
• A judge last month sentenced Johansen to 30 days jail and gave him a suspended prison sentence, prompting outrage among some.

OGDEN — Ogden Police Chief Jake Sube issued a scathing statement Thursday blasting the conduct of the former police officer jailed for sexual wrongdoing and the punishment he received, a month after the man's sentencing.

"Former officer Colten Johansen's conduct was indefensible. It was a serious violation of the law, department policy and the public's trust. It was entirely inconsistent with the standards of the Ogden City Police Department and the law enforcement profession," Sube said in the statement, posted to the Ogden Police Department Facebook page Thursday.

He also criticized the sentence handed down on Feb. 27 by 2nd District Judge Catharine Conklin, 30 days of jail and a suspended prison sentence.

"The outcome in this case does not reflect the seriousness of the criminal conduct and falls far short of the accountability the public and this profession should expect. That outcome was not the result this department sought, and it is not one we support," Sube said. "The protection of victims, especially children, is not just a priority for this agency; it is our most fundamental responsibility, and we will act immediately and decisively whenever trust is violated."

Conklin's office didn't immediately respond to a query seeking comment.

Johansen, charged in October 2024, pleaded guilty on Dec. 4 to two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor for viewing or possessing child pornography in 2024 and a count of forcible sexual abuse, all second-degree felonies. The sexual exploitation charges stemmed from material Johansen had at his home that Ogden police had collected as part of their investigations into sexual abuse cases involving children, an investigative area previously handled by the former officer. The forcible sexual abuse count stemmed from a sexual act by Johansen involving a child in 1994.

The crimes came to light while Johansen was taking a polygraph test in October 2024 as part of the application process for another law enforcement job. He had been serving as school resource officer at Ogden High, but when police officials learned what he had said, he was placed on leave, Sube said in his statement, "and terminated within days." Sube said Johansen's certification as a law enforcement officer has been revoked.

Apart from stressing the action Ogden police took to remove Johansen from duty and refer him for a criminal investigation, Sube criticized testimony from former Ogden Police Chief Randy Watt at sentencing on Johansen's behalf. The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Davis County Attorney's Office, not Weber County prosecutors.

In Johansen's defense, Watt had said that no office in the police department was willing to store child sex abuse material evidence, which led Johansen to ultimately place it in boxes in his car and then in the garage at his home. As described by Watt, Johansen was forced by circumstance to store the material at his home, but Sube offered a sharp rebuke.

Watt "was not asked to participate or speak on behalf of OPD, and his comments do not reflect this department's policies, practices or current leadership. Any suggestion that this department permitted officers to store evidence, including child sexual abuse material, in personal residences or other nonsecure locations is false," Sube said.

Former Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner, the chief when Johansen worked as a child sex crimes investigator, never prohibited storage of child sex abuse material in the police department's evidence room, Sube went on. Moreover, Greiner didn't allow storage of such evidence at an officer's home "or outside the strict controls of the evidence room."

The sentence has prompted outrage among some on social media, who maintain that Johansen's sentence was too lenient, particularly given that he was previously a police officer. Sube said public concern is justified.

"Cases like this damage confidence and raise legitimate questions. You deserve a police department that acts decisively, follows the law, properly safeguards evidence and holds itself accountable. OPD did that in this case, and that is the standard I will continue to require. Decisions made elsewhere in the justice process do not change that," he said.

He also emphasized that the turn of events involving Johansen does not reflect on other officers in the Ogden Police Department. "I see your professionalism. I see your integrity. I see your commitment to doing this job the right way. You have my full support," Sube said.

Prosecutors and Conklin had noted numerous mitigating factors that led to Johansen's sentence. The judge sentenced him to one to 15 years of prison on each of the three counts, suspending all but 30 days of that, to be served at the Weber County Jail. She also gave him 60 days of home confinement and placed him on probation for four years.

Among other things, Conklin noted the absence of additional sexual misdeeds in Conklin's past on par with the 1994 incident, his many years of service as a law enforcement officer and his forthrightness in disclosing the information that led to the charges. The victim of the 1994 incident offered forgiveness to Johansen and asked at sentencing that he not be prosecuted.

Still, many expressed concern via social media with the sentence, thinking it too lenient. Among other things, a petition has been launched on Change.org calling for Conklin's removal as a judge. It had 1,857 signatures as of Thursday.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Tim Vandenack

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.