Park City landlord charged with felony witness tampering

A Park City landlord has denied a felony witness tampering charge for allegedly telling two tenants to not show up at a court hearing because the judge did not know what he was doing.
Gary Weitz entered the plea last week in the 22nd Judicial District Court. No bond was requested in the case as Weitz voluntarily showed up at the hearing.
According to court documents, on Aug. 4 Park City resident John Briggs went to the Stillwater County Justice Court to pick up civil papers that had been filed against him and his girlfriend Heidi Gergen. The couple lives in a building owned by Weitz.
Briggs first addressed questions about the civil papers to Justice of the Peace Lee Cornell. Based on the nature of those questions, Cornell directed Briggs to speak with law enforcement.
Briggs told law enforcement that the only papers he and Gergen had been served was a “3-Day Notice To Pay Rent or Vacate” dated Jan. 29, 2015, according to court documents. Paperwork had been filed four additional times in Justice Court, which Briggs said neither he nor Gergen ever received.
That paperwork included two filings in June (a complaint for possession for non-payment of rent and a summons for action) and twice more in July (a motion for default judgement and a motion for a hearing), according to court documents.
After the couple had received all the court orders/paperwork, they met with Weitz and asked him about the order for hearing. Weitz requested to see the paperwork and after looking at it, allegedly told Gergen and Briggs he did not know why it had been served and that if they showed up for the hearing “they could be evicted by the judge,” according to court documents.
Weitz allegedly told the couple that if they did not show up for the hearing the judge would give the eviction notice to him and he would hold it.
A clerk in the justice court office told investigators that Weitz had filed numerous civil cases in justice court over the years and typically used one of his renters to serve the papers on the person he files judgements against, according to court documents.
Both Briggs and Gergen said Weitz appeared surprised when they asked about the motion for hearing. Gergen said Weitz told her “it was in her best interests not to personally appear for the hearing” because if she did, Weitz could not “stop what was happening,” according to court documents. Briggs said that Weitz told him “he did not understand what the judge was doing or why and that the judge did not seem to know the way things are supposed to be done,” according to court documents.
Deputy Stillwater County Attorney Ryan Addis filed the felony charge against Weitz because “believing that an official proceeding or investigation was pending or about to be instituted, purposely or knowingly attempted to induce or otherwise cause a witness or informant to not appear at any proceeding or investigation to which the witness or informant had been summoned,” according to court documents.