POST suspends police captain Feichko’s peace officer’s license over Aug. 25, 2017 traffic stop
Wellington is in search of a new police captain after the resignation of longtime local law enforcement officer Chad Feichko in June.
Feichko’s peace officer’s license was suspended for one year following an investigation by the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Division of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
That investigation culminated with an order signed by POST’s council chairman, Wade Carpenter, on June 18.
Feichko resigned his position as Wellington police captain after more than five years on the job, being asked to do so rather than face termination, confirmed the city’s mayor, Joan Powell.
The Sun Advocate only became aware of the suspension and Feichko’s subsequent resignation after a local radio station broadcast a news item about the ordeal. Powell, when asked why the city didn’t make a statement earlier, said officials didn’t want to further tarnish Feichko’s reputation.
Feichko not only served as Wellington police officer, but had earlier served as both a Price City police officer and Carbon County deputy.
His latest problems with POST, however, cap a long trail of disciplinary issues, traffic violations and reams of civil court cases, mostly involving failure to pay debts to creditors going back numerous years, according to publicly available documents.
A records request made to POST only reveals a small amount of this personal and professional trouble.
According to documents outlining the events leading up to Feichko’s latest suspension, on Aug. 25, 2017 the then-Wellington police captain was pulled over by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper for failure to wear a seat belt. During the stop, the trooper discovered that Feichko was driving an unregistered, uninsured vehicle. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the trooper later discovered a partly consumed bottle of vodka and an open container of beer in the vehicle.
Feichko was allowed to leave the scene on foot—his vehicle was impounded—before the trooper discovered the alcohol. The trooper supposedly later attempted to locate Feichko—possibly to arrest him—without success, according to the POST investigative documents.
In September, Wellington city officials were notified of the incident and issued a Notice of Intent to Discipline Feichko, according to POST records.
According to court records, however, Feichko pleaded Not Guilty during an Oct. 10, 2017 arraignment in Justice Court, where he faced two traffic infractions and two Class C misdemeanor charges.
By January of this year, Feichko had decided to take a plea deal, whereby he would plead guilty to the charges and they would be held in abeyance until after he completes a 12-month period of probation as well as completes 11 hours of community service and an alcohol assessment and possible counseling, according to Jan. 11 court document.
After Feichko pleaded guilty, Wellington city officials suspended their police captain for three days without pay.
“We did a three-day suspension on him at that time. We thought we’d worked things out. Evidently what Wellington feels like and what POST feels like isn’t the same,” Powell said.
By February, however, Feichko was under investigation by POST. On Feb. 18, he participated in a Garrity interview—Garrity is a form of Miranda rights given to peace officers who swear to answer questions truthfully under penalty of losing their state certification, but without waiving their Fifth Amendment protections and facing the possibility of incriminating themselves.
During the interview, Feichko admitted to possession of the open containers of alcohol during the August 2017 traffic stop. He told investigators he’d bought the bottle of vodka and had only one drink from it. He said he accidentally placed the bottle of beer in the vehicle as he was working to fix his son’s vehicle that day. He said he was not impaired while driving that day.
POST records in this case indicate this was not Feichko’s only run in with POST. He previously served a three-year suspension, from April 2009 to April 2012, after being found guilty of “engaging in sexual conduct while on duty.”
After reporting its findings to POST’s administrative council on April 23, Feichko was given 30 days to file a response.
Exactly 30 days later, Feicko waived his right to respond.
On June 14, when the POST council took up the matter again, it was initially recommended that Feichko receive a three-month suspension. After discussing the matter further and detailing the lawman’s history of disciplinary problems, the council decided on the one-year suspension.
According to a statewide check of court records, Feichko has a long history of being named in lawsuits and traffic complaints.
For example, an arrest warrant was issued for him May 2011 from Emery County for failure to appear in court on a speeding ticket. In July 2011, while Feichko was sidelined for his sexual conduct on duty, he pleaded No Contest in Emery County Justice Court to writing a hot check in 2010. After making a series of court payments, that charge was dismissed in 2012.
In December 2012, while he was ostensibly serving as a police officer in Wellington, an Emery County court issued another arrest warrant over an unpaid speeding ticket.
In January 2013, he got a speeding ticket in Utah County, which he paid the following month.
In June 2013, a civil bench warrant was issued for his arrest in a small claims court dispute involving $1,386 in unpaid bills. A default judgment was later awarded the plaintiff against him.
In September 2016, Feichko was charged with six Class B Misdemeanors in Carbon County over an alleged animal attack. Though being charged with failure to restrain an animal on each count, the case was dismissed shortly after it was filed.
Beyond traffic and a few minor criminal infractions noted in the court records, Feichko also has a long history of being sued for not paying his bills, ironic since one might imagine how many people Feichko served papers to or carried away in handcuffs over the years for similar issues.
In 2006, Feichko was sued in Salt Lake County to recoup more than $15,000 on an auto loan.
In February 2012, he and his then-wife were sued for $3,129 each plus attorneys fees by a collection agency.
A $5,788 judgment against them was ordered by a court in January 2013 over unpaid dental bills.
In January 2017, the pair was sued over $1,255 in debts by a collection agency.
In September 2017, the couple was sued in Carbon County over $12,000 in debts owed to a credit union.
In May 2018, a default judgment was awarded to plaintiffs against Feichko and his ex-spouse for more than $5,400.
Feichko’s pay was being garnished by a creditor as recently as March.
The court record is pockmarked with numerous smaller claims.
Attempts to reach Feichko for comment were not successful.
Meanwhile, Powell, who said she inherited Feichko from her predecessor, explained that Wellington is currently restructuring its police department.
“We’ll be hiring soon. We’re just working through all the details,” she said.
Until then a former Wellington employee is acting as supervisor over a small force of reserve officers who patrol the tiny community.
“He knows the ropes here in Wellington. He has a pretty good job with Price City. He is a senior reserve officer and he is acting supervisor until we restructure,” the mayor said.