SALT LAKE CITY — Former Box Elder County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott R. Womack pleaded not guilty Wednesday to eight misdemeanor federal counts of depriving women of their rights.
The charges, announced earlier in the day by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, stem from incidents in which Womack is alleged to have had illicit contact with female motorists he stopped.
Womack appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sam Alba, who appointed the federal public defenders’ office to represent him and set a five-day trial to begin June 25.
Womack was granted pre-trial release under the conditions he surrender his passport and not have any contact with victims in the case.
The charges, which follow an investigation by the FBI, allege Womack used his position as a law enforcement officer to deprive eight women of their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches.
The charges allege Womack required the victims to expose parts of their bodies without a legitimate law enforcement purpose.
The potential penalty for each count is up to one year in federal prison.
Womack also faces charges over the same allegations in four separate state courts. He is also a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by two of the women.
He was fired a year ago during investigation of the incidents, which are alleged to have occurred in 2010.
Details have emerged chiefly through a federal lawsuit filed against Womack by two women accusing him of coercing them into disrobing to allow him to check for tattoos during traffic stops.
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