ST. GEORGE — Six suspects allegedly took more than $80,000 Wednesday from an ATM after pulling the machine apart.
Hours later, the out-of-state group was arrested following a car chase that led to an early-morning foot pursuit in Virgin that continued through a remote area in freezing temperatures.
The arrests stem from the Wednesday incident when the St. George Communications Center received an alarm activation at Chase Bank on Sunset Boulevard shortly after 3:30 a.m. in St. George.
According to charging documents filed with the courts, officers arrived at the bank to find the suspects had already fled and the ATM machine “torn apart” and cash missing. Officers would later learn that $80,000 in cash was reportedly stolen during the incident.
The branch’s security footage showed a white Ford pickup with four occupants pull up to the ATM machine in front of the Chase branch with chains that authorities believed were to be used to pull apart the machine before the video feed stopped.
During a search of the area, officers later found a white Ford truck with chains attached to the rear bumper that was still running but abandoned, and when officers contacted the registered owner, they learned the truck had been stolen from the parking lot of a business nearby.
Officers also noted visible damage on the pickup’s rear bumper where it was used to pull apart the ATM, as well as damage to the ignition caused by the suspect’s efforts to start the truck without the key.
While officers continued processing the scene at the bank, an “attempt to locate” was broadcasted out to surrounding agencies to be on the lookout for the suspect’s vehicles.
Less than an hour before the alarm activation, an officer in Hurricane noticed two passenger cars, a dark blue Nissan and a silver Honda, heading west on state Route 9 towards Interstate 15, and within minutes of the broadcast, that same Hurricane officer noticed the two sedans he had seen earlier heading east on SR-9.
The officer attempted to stop both vehicles when he noticed that neither had a license plate visibly displayed, which is when one of the cars, the Nissan, pulled off the highway and stopped. The Honda, meanwhile, continued east along the highway.
When the officer ran a check on the Nissan it came back as a rental, and inside he found two men donning black clothing. One of the men told the officer they were staying at a motel in Hurricane and gave the officer the room number. Officers would later recover a key for the same room number during a search of the Nissan.
Patrol officers then were dispatched to the motel where they observed the same silver Honda they noticed minutes earlier parked near the suspect’s room, and within minutes of their arrival officers observed an individual throw something in the motel dumpster as they exited the room.
Patrol also noticed five occupants inside the Honda as it pulled out of the parking lot of the motel, but when they attempted to stop the car, the Honda fled at a high rate of speed.
The pursuit would continue for more than 20 miles until the Honda crashed off Smith Mesa Road in Virgin, where all five suspects jumped out and fled into the remote area covered in snow.
Officers searched the abandoned Honda that crashed during the pursuit and recovered a gray Swiss bag containing a large number of loose $20 bills, such as what would be found inside an ATM machine, according to charging documents. Officers also found the key to the motel room that was rented by 21-year-old Dayleon Jacques Garrett, of Houston, Texas, who was arrested during the foot pursuit a short while later.
Another suspect from Houston, 21-year-old Marcus Shamane McLemore, was arrested during the foot chase in Virgin, along with Texas native, 25-year-old Savyon Niko Hamilton, of Fort Bend. A fourth suspect, Lawrence Dennis, also 25, from LaPlace, Louisiana, was also taken into custody by police.
A suspect from Missouri, 23-year-old Reginald Lemont Simmons, of St. Louis, was taken into custody during the foot pursuit, as well as Quamaine Deandre Edwards, a 25-year-old native of Houston.
With the foot chase taking place in a remote area of Virgin and temperatures hovering just above 25 degrees, five of the suspects were transported to St. George Regional Medical Center until they were medically cleared.
At the hospital, St. George detectives conducted a series of interviews, during which Garrett said he had been told to wait across the street while the others used a truck to break open the ATM. Dennis, Lawrence and Tyree gave statements that they had been in a vehicle that fled from police and were arrested after running from officers.
They also stated they had fled on foot from the vehicle before being arrested.
In the meantime, officers began to receive reports of cash being found in the area of Dixie Drive in St. George. Responding units located debris consistent with ATM components and about $1,000 in cash during a search of the area.
Once medically cleared, the suspects were then transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked on multiple charges.
During a search of the Nissan, officers recovered burglary tools, including a D-ring that was the same style as the one left behind by the suspects, as well as a number of screwdrivers and several pairs of gloves. Officers also found a number of black hoodies and several pairs of black athletic pants.
The license plates for both vehicles were also found in the trunk of the Nissan and appeared to have been taken off prior to the incident at the ATM machine, as officers later learned the registration on both cars was valid at the time of the incident in St. George.
The report also states that Edwards and Simmons told police they had been involved in two recent burglary attempts in Las Vegas and went on to explain they both served as lookouts while the other suspects broke into the ATM machines.
All six suspects face three second-degree felony charges, including two counts of theft and one count of criminal mischief. They also face one third-degree felony count each of burglary and criminal mischief, as well as failing to stop at command of law enforcement – a misdemeanor.
Garrett also faces a third-degree felony charge of evading, while Simmons only faces one count of felony criminal mischief, with an additional misdemeanor count of manufacture of burglary tools that was added.
In total, 44 charges were submitted to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review between all six suspects. A majority of the cash taken from the ATM was subsequently recovered by police.
The report also lists a seventh suspect, Tyree Smith, who was also reportedly arrested Wednesday; however, no further details or records on this individual could be located – either through an inmate search or during a review of the court records.
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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