The following was written and reported by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. The FBI has shut down its yearslong investigation into the murky, conflict-riddled deals involving a Utah Transit Authority commuter train station and related development in Draper. No charges resulted aside from the...
The following story was written and reported by Eric Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. Before he pled guilty to running a $125 million fraud and being labeled a “scammer extraordinaire” by the FBI, Deepal Wannakuwatte was known as a charming entrepreneur who owned his own tennis team....
The following story was written by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project and published in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune. Prosecutors filed 10 felony charges Wednesday against Tyler Agustin Jex, a former teaching aide for deaf children in Utah, alleging he raped and sexually assaulted multiple students. It has been a...
The following story was written by Eric S. Peterson, McKhelyn Jones, and Tori Waltz in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune , The UVU Review and The Signpost. You can always tell when a new school year has started at Utah’s public universities and colleges by the apprehensive, sometimes confused looks on the faces of students wandering...
The following story was written and reported by Eric S. Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The West View . In April, west-side residents awoke to flyers on their doors letting them know that for the sake of cleaner air and more reliable power, their doorsteps would be darkened by modified...
The following story was written and reported by Eric Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with The Salt Lake Tribune and The Insider newspaper in Wayne and Garfield counties. Loa • On July 31, 2018, a Wayne County sheriff’s deputy pulled up on an ugly scene: A woman stood in the driveway...
The following story was written by Eric Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project and published in partnership with Utah Stories. Multi-level marketing is as American as apple pie and as Utahn as green jello. But in recent years, some of the biggest MLMs have realized that real growth and expansion means digging the base...
The Utah Investigative Journalism Project is excited again to take part in The Made in Utah Festival. This month we’ll be hosting another bar trivia fundraiser focused on local and national election trivia. Our Beer and Loathing on the Campaign Trail Trivia will be held at the festival on Saturday, Aug. 24, from 2-4 p.m. The festival...
The following story was written and reported by Eric Peterson of The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with the Deseret News. SALT LAKE CITY — On June 28, 2018, a Tesla Model S was cruising through the desert west of Salt Lake City as part of an unusual, and potentially dangerous, experiment. Heading...
This month we’re holding a summer membership drive and we’re looking to recruit 500 new “muckrakers” who will commit to a $2 monthly donation to The Utah Investigative Journalism Project. Of course larger monthly donations are also welcome, and can easily be arranged by the click of a button through the PayPal link on our...