Suspect identifies himself as his brother after being caught in stolen car

Police vehicles in LaVerkin, Utah, June 15, 2019 | File photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A Cedar City man was arrested Tuesday in LaVerkin after officers allegedly found him in a car reportedly stolen out of the Salt Lake City area.

Jacob Daniel Hildebrand, 24, of Cedar City, booking photo taken in Washington County, Utah, March 24, 2020 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Jacob Hildebrand, 24, of Cedar City, was arrested and booked into jail on a number of charges filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office, including second-degree felony theft, third-degree felony possession of a firearm by a restricted person and misdemeanor theft by receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia and providing false information with the intent to be another actual person.

The charges stem from an incident that took place when an officer on patrol in LaVerkin noticed a man sitting inside of a vehicle parked on West 70 North. A registration check revealed the vehicle was reported as stolen from the Salt Lake area by the Unified Police Department.

Minutes later, the officer stopped the car just as it pulled out onto the roadway, and the suspect, later identified as Hildebrand, was arrested for allegedly being in possession of a stolen vehicle.

The officer noted that the suspect “initially and continuously provided a name which belonged to his older brother,” as well as the brother’s social security number and date of birth. It wasn’t until later the suspect was accurately identified through driver’s license records.

During the inventory of the car prior to impounding, the officer located a license plate allegedly taken from a vehicle that was later located and recovered by police in Salt Lake City.

According to the officer, a number of other items found in the vehicle were also reported stolen, including a checkbook in another individual’s name and a loaded handgun with a serial number matching the one reported stolen in an unrelated report, as well as narcotics and paraphernalia, including a white crystal substance and syringes discovered inside of a purse on the passenger’s side of the car.

A background check of the suspect revealed a no-bail warrant issued by Adult Probation and Parole in February in connection with a 2018 Iron County drug case.

In that case, the defendant was booked on an extortion charge after he admitted to spearheading the staging of a kidnapping/hostage situation in order to extort drugs and money from another dealer in the area — a plan that ultimately failed when Hildebrand and his co-defendants were arrested in a Walmart parking lot by detectives.

One month later, the charges were reduced to a single third-degree felony count of drug distribution, and the defendant was sentenced to serve 0-5 years in Utah State Prison as part of a global resolution resolving multiple cases.

Hildebrand remains in custody in Washington County on $20,650 bail.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!