ST. GEORGE — The Beaver County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in locating Joshua Wayne Smith, who is wanted for car theft, burglary and multiple other offenses stemming from two incidents reported over the weekend.
Smith, 39, is wanted on two felony charges filed with the court Monday, including one theft charge and one count for burglary, both third-degree felonies, and is also wanted for being in possession of a stolen vehicle, evading police and possession of a firearm by a restricted person.
Smith is described as a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 210 pounds with a slender build, red/auburn hair, blue eyes and has a tattoo on his right calf.
The charges stem from two reported thefts. The first involves a burglary in which an ATV was reported taken on the morning of July 28 while the second involves the alleged theft of an RV reported stolen days before.
The ATV theft call to police was from a resident in the Grove area of Beaver County who told police his 2006 Kawasaki 650 Brute Force ATV, valued at $3,400, was missing from his garage, according to the affidavit filed with the court in support of Wilson’s arrest.
Officers found that the suspect, later identified as Smith, allegedly entered the garage through an unlocked side door and either bypassed the ignition or pushed the ATV out of the garage and down a hill, since the key that was hidden underneath the vehicle was found on the ground nearby.
Police allege that the ATV was found near the RV reported stolen days before, and that Smith told family members he purchased the RV “for cheap” from an individual in Oregon, the statement says.
Deputies investigating the RV theft observed a man matching Smith’s description entering and exiting an RV that was located in a remote area of Beaver County, and also observed the suspect using the ATV to move trees and brush in an attempt to hide the RV from authorities.
Both the RV and the ATV matched the description of the vehicles reported stolen.
A task force was assembled and responded to the area, and as they approached the RV Smith jumped on the ATV and fled the area, evading police by driving recklessly through dense trees and brush until he crashed into a tree and was thrown over the handlebars.
He got back on the ATV and took off again. Deputies later located the overturned ATV in a stream near South Fork, and surmised that Smith had fled again on foot.
The registration and vehicle identification on the ATV matched the information obtained during the burglary report.
The search for Smith continued until it became too dark to proceed safely, and Tuesday it was confirmed with Beaver County Sheriff’s deputies that he has not yet been located.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department at 435-438-2862, or the St. George Communications Center at 435-634-5730.
This report is based on statements from police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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It’s sad to think that some people believe that “just one more law” could have stopped this. He broke how many again? One more, or a thousand more, would not have made any difference.
Oh goody, another backwoods manhunt. How long can he live in a cave?
is 5’10 and 210 really a slender build?