LOGAN — Former Cache County Victim Services Director Terryl Warner has been charged with second-degree felony communications fraud after allegedly fabricating a doctorate from Liberty University to improperly obtain more than $14,000 in county salary, authorities said.
The charge was filed Tuesday in Logan’s 1st District Court by the Utah County Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the matter to avoid local conflicts of interest.
According to a probable cause statement filed by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, Warner worked for Cache County between 1996 and 2024. In May 2020, while serving as director of Victims Services, Warner was appointed interim director of the Children’s Justice Center, receiving a salary increase for managing both positions.
Investigators allege that in June 2021, Warner told Dane Murray, a colleague in the county attorney’s office, that she was halfway through a psychology doctoral program at Liberty University. On Nov. 17, 2022, after Murray was named interim county attorney, Warner sent him and another employee a screenshot of an email purporting to be from Liberty University. The message congratulated Warner on completing a Doctor of Philosophy in psychology with an emphasis in trauma and grief, referencing a completed dissertation.
Shortly after, Warner asked to step down from the Children’s Justice Center while retaining the 30% salary increase. She cited her completed doctorate, grant administration and victim services duties. Relying on the screenshot and her statements, Murray sent a letter to human resources requesting she keep the higher compensation.
Prosecutors said the salary retention resulted in Warner receiving $14,156.50 more in compensation between November 2022 and December 2024 than she was entitled to receive.
The alleged deception unraveled in August 2024 when county personnel requested degree verification. Warner emailed a “Graduation Packet” showing she had received an “Ethereal Doctor of Psychology in Grief Counseling” from Breyer State Theology University, an unaccredited institution, on Aug. 15, 2022.
Murray told investigators that had he known Warner lacked an accredited degree, he would not have supported the retention and would have moved to fire her immediately.
The criminal case marks a renewal of political conflict between Warner and Cache County officials. In February 2025, Warner filed a 21-page whistleblower lawsuit accusing Cache County Attorney Taylor Sorensen, Murray’s replacement, of intimidation, political retaliation and orchestrating her constructive termination.
In the civil complaint, Warner alleged that after Sorensen became interim attorney in early 2024, he pressured her to work on his election campaign and smear his political challenger, public defender Cameron Cox.
Warner further alleged that when she uncovered accounting errors indicating county expenses had been improperly double-billed to the American Rescue Plan Act, Sorensen retaliated by placing her on administrative leave for alleged fund misappropriation, suspending her without pay and demoting her. Warner resigned in December 2024 after 28 years with the county, stating Sorensen made working conditions intolerable.
The civil lawsuit was dropped several months later. According to court records, Warner’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case without prejudice in August 2025, offering no explanation for the decision.
In the new criminal case, Utah County prosecutors filed the charge with a summons for Warner to appear in court. She has not been arrested and an initial hearing date has not yet been set.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.