The criminal case against former Eagle Mountain Mayor Brian Brent Olsen is unlikely to be resolved before trial, according to the prosecutor.

Deputy Utah County attorney Chad Grunander said his office has offered plea deals to Olsen, who is charged with misusing public money. He also has had discussions about a possible resolution with defense attorney Ron Yengich. But those discussions have failed to produce a resolution, Grunander said, and both sides appear ready to go forward with Olsen's September trial.

"It looks like we're going to trial, despite everyone's best efforts to settle the case," Grunander said. "There have been negotiations, and they've been fruitless so far."

Olsen was scheduled to be in court Friday for the first time since Judge David Mortensen scheduled the trial in March, but the pretrial hearing was postponed until Sept. 5, two weeks before the trial is set to begin.

Olsen's preliminary hearing was in August 2007, and after a round of pleadings and motions from attorneys on both sides, Mortensen ruled in January there was enough evidence to take the case to trial. Grunander said one reason the case has been delayed for so long is that it took several months for a transcript of the preliminary hearing to be given to the attorneys because the official court recording was thought to be lost. There have also been scheduling problems.

"It may have just taken that amount of time for the court to find five days on its calendar [for the trial]," Grunander said. "I don't think there's been any unnecessary delays."

Olsen is charged with seven counts of misuse of public money. He is accused of defrauding Eagle Mountain by falsifying travel expense reports for meetings and other official functions that he did not actually attend during his 10-month tenure as mayor in 2006.

At his preliminary hearing, Olsen's former executive assistant, Angie Ferre, testified that Olsen submitted an expense report for a meeting at American Fork Hospital which she attended in his stead. Michael Wren, his former chief of staff, said he attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the Jordanelle Dam that Olsen included in his expense reports, though he did not see Olsen there.

Grunander said the prosecution plans to subpoena 17 witnesses for the trial.

Olsen is not the only Eagle Mountain political figure to recent face criminal charges. Former City Councilwoman Linn Strouse, who briefly succeeded Olsen as acting mayor after he resigned in October 2006, is facing a charge that she accepted an illegal gift or loan from a local land developer. On Thursday, former mayoral candidate Richard Culbertson was sentenced to 1-15 years in prison for fraudulently obtaining several home loans, and his wife, Kathleen, was sentenced to 60 days in jail and 24 months of probation.

Olsen's five-day trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 22.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.