ST. GEORGE — A Santa Clara man under investigation for burglary was arrested Thursday morning after a traffic stop and later booked into jail facing 16 charges, including six felonies.
The arrest began with an investigation into a burglary that was reported in Ivins Monday, Santa Clara-Ivins Police Officer Chad Holt said. The investigation led detectives to possible suspect Bodie David Bona, Holt said.
The detectives obtained a search warrant that covered Bona’s residence, his vehicle and his person, but before officers were able to execute the warrant, Holt said they observed the suspect in his vehicle.
Officers stopped Bona and after speaking with him and suspecting him of driving while intoxicated or impaired, a field sobriety test was administered and then a drug recognition expert was called out, Holt said.
Upon arrival the DRE administered a second field sobriety test on Bona and provided additional field testing, including a blood test at the scene.
“A drug recognition expert can conduct more sophisticated analysis at the scene and are specifically trained to pick up on other factors that indicate impairment,” Holt said.
Bona was then placed under arrest for suspected DUI, and officers began the search of his vehicle.
“While inventorying the contents of Bona’s car officers found substances that we suspected were heroin and meth,” Holt said.
Once Bona was in custody, detectives went to his residence in Santa Clara where they executed the search warrant obtained earlier and found evidence that tied the suspect to the burglary in Ivins.
Bona was later transported and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility facing one first-degree felony count of possession with intent to distribute; two second-degree counts and one third-degree count of felony theft; and one second-degree count and third-degree count of felony burglary.
He also faces two class A misdemeanor counts of possession; five class B misdemeanor counts, including two counts of possession of paraphernalia, one count of receiving stolen property, one count of possession of burglary tools and driving under the influence; one class C misdemeanor for improper plate or registration; and two trafffic citations for failing to register a motor vehicle and no proof of insurance.
“We are still working on this investigation,” Holt said, “so the information being released now is limited, but we will know more later.”
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by fire department and city personnel or other emergency responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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best place for a meth addict is in prison. I’d say rehab, but that doesn’t work for most of them. Prison is the best rehab for them.
I was actually gonna say prison or dead, but seemed a bit callous. It is the truth far too often tho, unfortunately.
Think how wonderful the planet would be if they ever found a cure for addicts .
No more innocent people getting robbed & attacked just because some guy needs to support his habit .