ST. GEORGE — An Ivins man with a long history of cases and convictions is in jail in Washington County and being held without bail following a dispute that took place in Orem several weeks ago..
On Thursday night, Joshua LeGrande Dean, 41, of Ivins was arrested and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility on an aggravated assault case filed in a Utah County court last week.
According to court records, the incident was reported Sept. 27 when police in Orem were dispatched to an residential assault call. Officers arrived and were told by several witnesses that just before the altercation took place, Dean was yelling at a family member outside of the home.
An individual went outside and asked the suspect to lower his voice, the report says, at which point Dean allegedly punched the man several times in the face and then tackled him to the ground, where he began choking him until he could no longer breathe.
Other family members went outside when they heard the commotion and attempted to break up the fight, pushing and hitting Dean until he got off the man and left the property. Officers scoured the area in search of the suspect but were unable to locate him.
“Officers believe Joshua has returned to St. George,” the Orem Police Officer noted in the report.
Utah County Attorney’s Office formally charged Dean with third-degree felony aggravated assault, and he was arrested in St. George by Adult Probation and Parole agents shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday.
This is not Dean’s first brush with the law.
In 2018, Dean was charged with third-degree felony weapons offense after officers in Roy were called out to one of the Utah Transit Authority stations on a report that a rider was followed and threatened by a suspect holding a 12-inch knife. The man then pulled one of the station’s emergency levers and transit police responded.
Dean was located shortly after and transported to the Weber County Jail where he was booked on felony threat-use of a dangerous weapon in a fight and misdemeanor charges. He later pleaded guilty to felony weapon possession and a misdemeanor attempted aggravated assault charge and was sentenced to serve 0-5 years in Utah State Prison.
There is no record of any other offenses from the time Dean was sentenced until the assault case filed in October. However, in another case filed in March 2010, the suspect was charged with first-degree felony robbery and possession of a dangerous weapon for his participation in a prostitution scam involving three other suspects.
In that case, the scam was set up to rob a 28-year-old Pleasant Grove man who was reportedly lured to an apartment in Salt Lake City on the promise of a sexual encounter with two women in exchange for money.
The man showed up, the report states, and once he paid the women, Dean and a second suspect emerged from the bathroom yielding a knife and hammer and robbed him.
Dean pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and a third-degree weapons offense and was released with credit for time served. After after a series of arrests and probation violations, the case was closed in 2015.
In another case filed in September 2000, the suspect was charged with robbery following an incident at a library in Layton where two individuals were robbed of their money and cigarettes by Dean and another person. The charge was reduced to attempted robbery. Dean pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve a year in Davis County Jail and placed on three years probation.
Following Thursday’s arrest, Dean remains in custody without bail on a Utah Bureau of Pardons and Parole hold.
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