Mantua police chief dismissed, other officers resign

MANTUA — The police chief of Mantua has been let go after eight months on the job. The sudden termination led other officers to resign Monday.

Box Elder County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Dale Ward confirmed the dismissal of Chief Michael F. Castro, who became the city’s police chief in July, according to a Facebook post.

City officials have not said why Castro was dismissed.

Ward wasn’t sure if all the officers had resigned Monday, but did say that the Box Elder Sheriff’s Office will be helping out in Mantua in their absence.

The small city has had several police chiefs in recent years, including current Mayor Michael Johnson and more recently, Shane Jacob Zilles, who was arrested and subsequently fired for impaired driving in February 2019.

Zilles, who was pulled by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper for driving in the highway median, was later charged with five counts of falsifying, altering or forging prescription drugs, a class A misdemeanor.

Castro made headlines in December after rescuing an ice fisherman who had fallen through the ice in Mantua Reservoir.


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3 Comments

  • Linda March 30, 2021 at 5:48 pm Reply

    I heard that Castro actually fell through the ice also, and it was Brigham City first responders who rescued the man in the reservoir. But I could be wrong it’s what I heard.

  • john lucero March 30, 2021 at 8:10 pm Reply

    I saw a police there in Mantua parked, waiting for speeders to go up the hill, with what looked like a female in passengers seat and a couple of kids in the back seat hanging out through the window of the “mantua police” car .

  • Just a popo April 1, 2021 at 6:27 pm Reply

    You have the chief of police resign or fired and other officers resign of a small town in protest or were forced. Yet, the cache valley daily is the only place that reports on it. While this is a news story, odds are it does not involve all the drama or inappropriate behavior that todays public craves. I would be willing to bet that the mayor never really left his old job. Mantua generates a sizable portion of its revenue by writing tickets that never leads to happy employees.

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