Was Todd Weiler’s creepy voicemail an extortion attempt, or just one gigantic mis-understanding?

What is Extortion?

Utah Criminal Code Section 76-6-406 shows that extortion occurs when an official takes action against someone in an attempt to exercise control over his or her property. So in order to know if Todd Weiler extorted Entrata owner Dave Bateman, we need to know what his motive was in leaving the voicemail included above. If Todd Weiler’s voicemail was politically motivated, this is a clear-cut case of extortion.

Todd Weiler’s Motive

Why would Senator Todd Weiler want to extort David Bateman for political reasons? First, watch the video to the right to learn that Weiler is an outspoken proponent of SB54, a law that forced the Republican Party to permit candidates to gather signatures to access the primary ballot, and bypass GOP Convention.

In fact, Weiler was such a huge proponent of SB54 that he was publicly accused of telling donors not to donate to the GOP by former GOP Chairman James Evans. Why would he tell donors not to donate? Because if the Party has no funding, the Party can’t litigate the SB54 lawsuit. Minutes from GOP State Central Committee meeting from November 21, 2015 show that Weiler was aggressively seeking to end the SB54 litigation, and was scaring off donors. The minutes read:

“Senator Todd Weiler has been harming the party’s fundraising efforts. He has stated that general funds that the party raises are going towards the lawsuit, despite the party having been abundantly clear that this is not true: funds that go toward the lawsuit are completely separate from general funds . . . We most certainly do NOT have a budget shortfall due to the lawsuit as Senator Weiler has claimed.”

Ok, so Todd Weiler clearly had a motive to attack a donor who stepped forward to fund the SB54 litigation. If he could scare off Bateman and his contributions by attacking him politically, perhaps he could keep the SB54 suit from being funded.

How Did Dave Bateman end up in Weiler’s Cross Hairs?

On November 1, 2017, Utah GOP Chairman Rob Anderson announced he would unilaterally drop the SB54 lawsuit just 45 days after the State Central Committee voted to continue the lawsuit, and after Anderson campaigned for Chairman promising State Delegates that he was “not A Count My Vote candidate”. Anderson’s unilateral move was made just a month and a half after a motion failed during the September 9, 2017 State Central Committee Meeting to drop the suit.

Keep in mind that Todd Weiler became close personal friends with Chairman Anderson’s wife while they were in college. Many report that Chairman Anderson entered politics at the behest of Todd Weiler, and that Anderson may actually be doing Weiler’s bidding in his role as Chairman.

Dave Bateman learned about Chairman Anderson’s attempts to unilaterally drop the SB54 lawsuit, citing a financial motive. The financial motive stated by Anderson was laughable to Bateman, because the Party wouldn’t incur another dime of legal cost while waiting for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the case.

A win from the 10th circuit meant that all the GOP’s litigation costs would have to be reimbursed by the State. Bateman compares the situation to a lottery ticket. The ticket had been purchased. “Rob Anderson wanted to toss the ticket in the trash without scratching off the sliver cover to find out if we won.” says Bateman. Knowing Anderson’s motives weren’t pure, he stepped up and offered to (a) pay the litigation costs going forward, and (b) attempt to settle the bank debt owed by the Party to its attorneys (which he has since done).

Bailing out the Party from its legal debts, unwittingly placed Bateman in the cross hairs of Utah Senator Todd Weiler, who was attempting to block funding to the Party.

Weiler Attack on Bateman Begins Just A Week or Two After Bateman Announces Intention of Donating

Within just a week or two of Dave Bateman offering to pay for the Party’s legal debt, Weiler’s attack kicks into high gear. Weiler invites a woman who works for Bateman’s company to join him at the Buckshot Caucus Suite at a local Jazz game. The woman invited by Weiler is a manager at Entrata, who Bateman’s ex-girlfriend reported to. Weiler knew her because his son baptized the woman on his mission some years earlier. The woman who Weiler tried to use to carry out his extortion attempt, said the following regarding the encounter with Weiler at the Jazz suit:

This audio clip dispels the false statements Weiler made to the Police and in the media. Weiler’s attempt to harm Bateman were unquestionably motivated by Bateman’s donation to the Utah GOP. This audio provided to the police shows the following:

• Weiler’s family friend at the Buckshot Caucus Suite at a Jazz game was questioned aggressively about Bateman. She told Todd Weiler at the game that once Bateman and his girlfriend broke up, Bateman’s girlfriend was moved to a different team. That’s when the lightbulb went off for Weiler that maybe he could use both these women to initiate a legal attack against Bateman.
• Weiler tried to initiate communication with Bateman’s ex-girlfriend to convince her to bring allegations against him. Bateman’s ex-girlfriend reported to police that she was not looking for an attorney, nor did she ever even respond to Weiler’s $1,000,000 offer. Instead she warned Bateman that political figures in Utah were trying to do him harm and get her to sue him.
• Weiler’s family friend was urging Bateman’s ex-girlfriend to change her behavior and not go on a trip with him, otherwise she wouldn’t get her million dollars.
• Weiler’s family friend told Weiler that “They are in a good place”, yet Weiler tried to encourage the fraudulent lawsuit anyway.
• Weiler’s family friend refers to Weiler’s questioning at the Jazz game as “Hungry Attorneys”.

Weiler Makes False Statements To The Media About Extortion Attempt, Further Maligning Bateman

Weiler Lie #1: When Bateman released the voicemail recording of Weiler’s extortion attempt to the media, Weiler jumped into high gear to smear and paint Bateman in a false light. His first lie is telling the media that Bateman went to the home of Weiler’s family friend at 2 am in the morning and demanded her phone. Listen to Weiler’s false allegation on the Rod Arquette Show:

However, Bateman has produced a text message to the right shows that Weiler’s family friend actually sent Bateman a text message containing the voice mail at 12:56 am, and has notified this to the police. Bateman never visited her home uninvited as Weiler claimed, and he never demanded she hand over her phone.

Weiler Lies #2 & #3: Weiler claims on the Rod Arquette show “I didn’t just happen to run into someone. A close family friend sought me out in January for legal advice because her co-worker was searching for an attorney to file a sexual harassment case against Dave Bateman.“

After Weiler says the woman reached out to him, he admits that he actually invited her to the Buckshot Caucus Suite at a Utah Jazz Game.

These audio clips demonstrate the following:

• First, Bateman’s ex girlfriend confirmed to police that she was NOT looking for an attorney, and she never had any intention of filing a sexual harassment claim against Bateman.
• Second, Weiler’s close family friend confirmed that during her first conversation with Weiler on the subject she told Weiler “They are in a good place” and even referred to Weiler and his associates as “Hungry Attorneys”.
• Third, Weiler himself admitted inviting this woman to the Buckshot Caucus suite on January 20, 2018, but has the audacity to state that she “sought him out” to help a co-worker.
• Fourth, Weiler was baiting the ex girlfriend with a million dollars to alter her behavior and not go on a trip with Bateman, even though the woman refused to talk to Weiler even a single time.

Weiler Lie #4: Weiler went on to make further false attacks on Mr. Bateman’s character. He wrote to Utah Policy, “I have never met Mr. Bateman. A family friend of mine who works for Entrata told several other people and me at a social event on January 20 that Dave Bateman had had an affair with one of her co-workers. When the affair ended, her co-worker’s job hours and duties were changed.”

First, Bateman claims to have over 100 witnesses that he met his ex girlfriend at Lake Powell over Memorial Day in 2017, months after his divorce was finalized, and years after his initial separation. Second, Bateman and his ex-girlfriend were dating exclusively long before she ever came to work for Entrata.

If Weiler really was providing legal advice to someone looking for it, client-attorney confidentiality requirements would never allow him to go public like he has with these ridiculous and false allegations about the very woman Weiler is purporting to be protecting. These public statements are evidence that no one ever sought him out or engaged him to help with legal representation.

Weiler then includes in his comments to Utah Policy “I am troubled that Mr. Bateman would release a voice message that confirms he was traveling to Europe with a subordinate as it does not reflect well on Entrata, Mr. Bateman or the woman involved. It could also open up claims of other employees who are not treated the same at work as this woman.” In typical Weiler fashion, not only does Weiler continue to lie about Bateman, but he also makes a call to investors at Entrata to go after Bateman, as well petitions other women at Entrata to make contrived allegations. The evidence is overwhelming that Weiler was attempting to use these women to make a political attack on Bateman, not to help them as Weiler suggests.

Here are Bateman’s comments about what took place on the Rod Arquette show:

Other People Weiler Harassed Start To Come Forward

Campaign Manager Reports Weiler’s Attacks On Female Political Opponents

When the news about Todd Weiler broke, people started coming out of the woodwork to report other political attacks Weiler has made against them. The first was a campaign manager right on Rod Arquette’s show, who had witnessed first hand “the deceitful and manipulative ways” Todd Weiler uses to win his campaigns, including attacks based on women’s gender. Weiler’s tactics resulted in this campaign manager calling Weiler a “liar to his face.”

Old Roommate of Weiler’s Calls Weiler a Thief, Creeper, & Scumbag

A former BYU roommate of Todd Weiler stepped forward and shared the following statement:

“I know you don’t know me, but I have been following you. I am a disenchanted Republican disgusted with the Utah Republican Party. Todd Weiler is a nasty human being. We roomed together at BYU with a mutual friend. This was about 1989-1990. No one likes him. He did weird stuff and was [a] thief. I was the poorest guy in the apartment (his family had money from back east), and he constantly stole my food. My female friends thought he was a creeper. One weird dude. Good luck to you man. He is a scum bag.”

Former Female Student Reports Weiler Made Rude Comments About Her Physique

A former associate of Weiler’s reached out and reported that he yelled extremely offensive and demeaning comments about the woman’s physique inside a crowded cafeteria. Compare this report with Weiler’s claim that his motivation for encouraging a woman to sue me was because he has “zero tolerance for that type of behavior [sexual harassment] in the work place.”

Former Political Opponent Reports Weiler Attacked Her As a Mother

A former female who challenged Weiler for his Senate seat some years ago reported the following:

• Weiler spread rumors that the woman was neglecting her children because they helped her with her campaign while going door to door to meet neighbors
• Weiler started a whisper campaign against her, saying she was crazy, home schooled her kids, was against public school, and even accused her of having an eating disorder
• Weiler approached the woman’s high-school age daughter and made her feel uncomfortable while backstage at the State Convention.
• Weiler contacted the parents of her kids’ soccer team to make negative comments about her.
• Weiler made contact with her estranged sister who lived in another state, presumably to harass her and dig up dirt on her.
• Weiler’s friend warned her that Weiler had the money and influence to bring down her life.
• Weiler trashed her name so bad that she believes she could never run for any office in Utah again.
• Reported that Weiler and Carrie Dickson collaborated to cheat at Convention to keep her from winning (she lost by one vote).
• Other Buckshot Caucus members posted nasty things about her online.

Weiler Creates a Surreptitious Online Identity to Troll Mike Lee, Female Republicans, and Others

During the 2010 election cycle, Todd Weiler admitted to creating a fake online profile, called “GOP Hack” to say nasty things about candidates in the 2010 election cycle. His primary target was Senator Mike Lee, but others were attacked by him.

Weiler Commits Illegal Acts By Leaking Classified Government Documents To Attack Jonathan Johnson During Gubernatorial Campaign

During the 2016 election cycle, Todd Weiler posted the following document into multiple Facebook groups to attack Johnathan Johnson in his race against Governor Herbert. The only difference is Weiler didn’t take time to scrub out the last four digits of Jonathan Johnson’s social security number, or his date of birth. Weiler was trying to insinuate that Johnson wasn’t really a Republican because he forgot to check “Republican” on his driver’s license application (or voter registration card).

Apparently releasing this voter registration data is a class B misdemeanor (Utah Code 20A-2-104-4-A-VI-D&E), not to mention a violation of privacy and criminal laws that prevent the disclosure of classified government documents. Police confirmed the only place the document could have been obtained was either from (a) The County Clerk’s office or (b) Spencer Cox’s Office (Herbert’s Running Mate, and fellow Buckshot Caucus Member). What penalty did Weiler receive for releasing this information? Zero, zilch, nada. After confirming the document was indeed a classified government document, the investigation was closed, no questions asked. Apparently if you’re in the Utah Senate, criminal laws don’t apply to you.

Given Weiler’s history of political attacks against people, do you really think his attempt to get Bateman’s ex-girlfriend to make sexual harassment allegations against him were anything but politically motivated? If you believe Weiler’s motive was political, the Lehi Police disagree with you and found “no evidence of extortion whatsoever”, much like in the case with Jonathan Johnson.