Man pleads guilty to releasing mink

SALT LAKE CITY — A Layton man will be sentenced Nov. 12 after pleading guilty in federal court to releasing mink from a South Jordan farm.
Williiam James Viehl, 23, appeared before U.S. Federal Judge Dee Benson on Wednesday for a change of plea hearing.
Viehl could be sentenced to serve up to five years in a federal prison and fined $250,000.
Alex Jason Hall, 20, of Ogden, was also indicted on felony charges for the same incident. A trial is pending.
Both men had pleaded not guilty in March.
Investigators said the two opened hundreds of pens, allowing 7,000 mink to escape and destroying breeding records at the McMullin mink farm.