On March 27, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an incident that had allegedly occurred in January of 2023.
A reporting party (RP) informed an ECSO officer that they had recently been contacted and informed that the mayor of Orangeville at that time, David Robertson, had killed a black lab-type dog around the time that the RP’s same breed of dog had been picked up by the city.
When the RP’s dog had been picked up, they informed the officer that they had contacted the city and were told that the dog had escaped from city property where it had been held temporarily and its whereabouts were unknown.
The officer then responded to Orangeville and met with the current Animal Control Officer, who stated that he was called to respond and assist Mayor Robertson and a council member in catching the dog. The dog was caught, but the pound was closed and the officer but the dog in a kennel with food and water at the city shop until the pound could be accessed.
However, it was then reported that the mayor contacted the Animal Control Officer the following day to meet him back at the shop. According to the officer, he met Mayor Robertson back at the shop, where he was instructed by the mayor to put the dog in the back of Robertson’s truck, which he reportedly did.
The dog was then driven up to the top of the hill, where Mayor Robertson is reported to have taken the dog out of the truck before shooting him twice with a .22 caliber revolver. Upon being shown photos of the RP’s dog, the officer affirmed that it was the same animal.
On April 11, at the conclusion of a regularly scheduled Orangeville City Council meeting, Mayor Robertson officially resigned from his position, citing health reasons. At the time, Robertson expressed that he looked forward to seeing Orangeville City grow and prosper, wishing his successor and the council well.
On May 13, the Seventh Judicial Court issued a summons for the former mayor to appear on June 4 to answer to the charge of aggravated cruelty to an animal, which is a class A misdemeanor.