The Sanpete Messenger's next big crime story may be about one of its own after the newspaper's managing editor was arrested on drug charges.

Publisher Suzanne Dean said the 37-year-old Hales, an Ephraim resident, was fired following the arrest.

"This tragedy of drug abuse hits everybody, and it's hit us," Dean said.

Hales's attorney, Paul Frischknecht, could not be reached for comment. Dean said Hales is still incarcerated at the Sanpete County Jail.

Dean said Hales has had a history of drug problems in his four-year tenure at the Messenger. After a probation violation of his came to the newspaper's attention earlier this year, Hales reached a return-to-work agreement with the paper under which he would seek treatment and submit to drug testing. The agreement included a provision that called for Hales's dismissal if he failed a drug test, Dean said.

According to court documents, Sanpete County sheriff's deputies interviewed Hales at the Ephraim Police Department after his arrest. During the interview, Hales acknowledged that he had a drug problem and said he had used methamphetamine the previous night, the document said. A drug test showed traces of methamphetamine and MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy, in his urine.

Prosecutor Brody Keisel declined to discuss the case, and said he was unfamiliar with the circumstances surrounding Hales's arrest. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Manti.

The Sanpete Messenger, which puts out new issues on Wednesdays, has a policy of not printing articles about arrests until a suspect is formally charged, Dean said. Hales was arrested on a Sunday, but because the formal charges were not filed by the Sanpete County Attorney's Office until Wednesday, his arrest was not in the newspaper's pages when it went to press.

Dean said she is debating whether to run an article in the Messenger about Hales's arrest and subsequent drug charges.

"I feel like I'm in a little bit of a dilemma. On the one hand he's a public figure here in Sanpete County. If one of our county commissioners were arrested on drug charges, we'd print it. On the other hand, we don't characteristically run stories on third-degree possession charges," she said. "I'm thinking about it."

Hales's future with the Sanpete Messenger is up in the air, Dean said. She said she was contemplating allowing Hales to come back to the Messenger under a stricter version of the previous return-to-work agreement.

Hales is a "very, very, very capable guy. What I'm telling people is we need him back and Sanpete County needs him. It's just really a tragedy."

Dean expressed frustration with the extent of the drug problem in Sanpete County and elsewhere in Utah, as well as the lack of available addiction treatment. However, she said she has known people who overcame serious drug problems in the past, and expressed hope that Hales could do the same.

"These kinds of things can turn around, and I expect they will in John's case too," she said.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it