SALT LAKE CITY — A Farmington man has been arrested after he allegedly threatened and stalked Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall over her changing city flags to circumvent a state law banning non-sanctioned flags.
Jason Guy Rogers, 45, was arrested Tuesday on charges of electronic communication harassment and stalking.
Mendenhall unveiled a series a flags earlier this month that she said complied with the state's new law that many feel targets LGBTQ+ Pride flags and others from appearing in government and state buildings.
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According to arrest documents, police were first made aware of social media threats made by Rogers on May 12. That was days after Mendenhall posted about the proposal to change the city flag, to which Rogers commented, "When you see her and her family end them immediately. Utah will rise up."
On the same day, Rogers allegedly posted another comment that stated, "When you see a Mendenhall. End there [sic] life immediately."
Following a request to the Statewide Information and Analysis Center to learn who was behind the username that had made the posts, detectives learned it was Rogers.
When questioned by Farmington police at his home on Tuesday, Rogers denied making the comments and claimed that his account had been hacked."
However, about an hour after police finished speaking with Rogers, they said he made another tweet on Mendenhall's X account that read, "Time for action."
At that same time, police learned that Rogers was actually at the Salt Lake City and County Building, where the mayor's office is located, and that security personnel were monitoring him with security cameras. Rogers was seen walking around the building and trying to enter through multiple locked side doors.
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The arrest report said that when Rogers began to enter the building's main doors, he noticed that security officers had seen him, leading him to walk back to his truck and drive from the area.
Based on Rogers's actions, Farmington Police located Rogers and placed him under arrest before he was booked into the Davis County Jail.
