ST. GEORGE — An Arizona couple stopped near Hildale was arrested late Monday after a records check revealed the vehicle they were driving was stolen during a residential burglary near Kingman, Arizona, more than 250 miles away.
Shortly after 11 p.m. a deputy with the Colorado City Marshals Office noticed a white Jeep heading north on state Route 59 at a high rate of speed, which was verified by a radar device.
The officer stopped the vehicle, and the driver, identified as 28-year-old Karla Waldschmidt, told the officer she was the owner of the vehicle. However the report states she was unable to provide any current registration on the SUV.
The driver also told the officer that the passenger that was the legal owner of the Jeep. The passenger reportedly provided a false name, which turned out to be an alias that was known to police. Officers later identified the suspect as 42-year-old Randall Scott Colombo.
When the Jeep was checked the officer discovered it had been reported as stolen out of Williams, Arizona, near Kingman, Arizona. Both suspects were arrested.
Colorado City Marshals Sgt. Mark Gower told St. George News that both suspects live in Kingman, Arizona. He also said he later found out that the pair allegedly broke into the residence where the Jeep was parked and removed a number of items from the home that were loaded into the vehicle and the pair then headed north into Utah.
Some of the items taken from the home in Arizona were recovered during a search of the Jeep, Gower said, and he was working with authorities in Williams to return the stolen items and to assist in the investigation.
Colorado City Marshal’s Office then transported Waldschmidt and Colombo to Purgatory Correctional Facility shortly after midnight and both were booked into jail facing felony charges of theft by receiving stolen property.
Columbo also faces one misdemeanor count of giving false personal identification to a peace officer, while Waldschmidt faces a misdemeanor drug charge after corrections officers reportedly recovered prescription opiates during a search of the suspect at the jail.
Ed. Note: A new Utah law generally prohibits the release of arrest booking photos until after a conviction is obtained.
This report is based on statements from court records, 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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