Mantua police chief dismissed, other officers resign

MANTUA, Box Elder County — The police chief of the small northern Utah town of Mantua has been let go after eight months on the job and other officers there resigned on 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 Resevoir, telling the Deseret News: “It just wasn’t an option to see him drown right in front of us.”