Records responsive to Joseph Paramore Firmage were obtained Sunday from the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD). The law enforcement reports reflect circumstances and charges surrounding his 2023 arrest for financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. As reported by KSL, Firmage was accused of neglecting an 80-year-old woman, including leaving her without utilities while trying to take charge of her finances and assets which included her home.
The police records obtained by Expanding Frontiers Research (EFR) indicate Firmage was arrested at another point in 2023 with “at least” ten empty bottles of vodka and one full bottle in his car, along with multiple pieces of mail and financial items not belonging to him. According to information documented by Salt Lake police, Firmage was residing in the basement of the home of the victim of his alleged financial exploitation.
The SLCPD records on Joseph Firmage were electronically received Sunday, March 24, in response to a February request submitted under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act, or GRAMA. The recently obtained records:
Joseph Firmage rose to popularity in the UFO subculture when he claimed to experience an otherworldly encounter. He and partners subsequently constructed an investment scheme to manufacture an anti-gravity device. One lawsuit related to the failed venture remains open, Marmer v. Firmage. The suit echoes previous allegations that Firmage and associates ran a Ponzi scheme while falsely claiming to be awaiting government grant awards for the purported development of futuristic technology.
Records obtained by EFR from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission contain testimony of an associate and investor who told the SEC some $59 million was raised from investors for the Firmage-operated ManyOne and related ventures in the years surrounding 2012. The SEC material contains interviews conducted in 2016 and 2017 that paint a picture of corporate associates characterized by unreliability and ambiguity, ultimately failing to deliver on either the products promoted or an ever-promised imminent financial windfall for investors.
SLCPD files obtained Sunday indicate multiple legal challenges for Firmage, including failing to appear for a court hearing. This and other circumstances, such as violating court orders while continuing to try to influence and indirectly communicate with the victim of the alleged financial exploitation, resulted in additional charges sought against the man who described himself as a candidate for president of the United States.
A recent inmate search for "Joseph Firmage" conducted at the website of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office included the following result:
A Nov. 20, 2023, report composed by an SLCPD detective explained how the reported victim of Firmage was “continually receiving phone calls without stop” after Firmage's related arrest. While the detective was with the victim to help them set up a new phone, the officer documented one specific number kept calling the old phone. This prompted the detective to answer one of the incoming calls.
The detective quickly surmised the caller - that identified himself as John Tulip - was acting on behalf of Firmage and in violation of protective orders. SLCPD documented in a transcript of the call that Tulip stated he was trying to check on the victim and see if he could get some phone numbers for Firmage.
“I'll pass on the information to him that he caught a charge,” the detective told the caller. “Another charge because of your call.”
“Please don't call again,” the detective reiterated, “'cause every time you call her it's gonna catch him another charge.”
The detective documented in a subsequent Dec. 6, 2023, report they checked jail phone records and examined calls taking place with Firmage, who was observed encouraging people he spoke with to advise the victim that law enforcement was trying to make her a ward of the state and declare her mentally incompetent. The circumstances were identified as being in violation of the protective order. As shown below, Tulip numbered among those talking by phone to Firmage while incarcerated.
In a report dated Nov. 16, 2023, the detective documented an arrest of Firmage stemming from failing to appear in court, triggering a new warrant for exploitation of a vulnerable adult. In an ensuing conversation with Firmage, the detective addressed accusations he controlled the victim's finances while neglecting to pay her utilities.
Firmage stated he got the water turned back on, the detective wrote, noting it was paid by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that he said he paid the gas bill that day.
"You paid the gas bill today?" the detective documented asking Firmage to reiterate, adding they would have someone confirm it.
"Joseph then stated he is having someone pay it," the detective noted, apparently documenting Firmage walking back his statement.
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