ST. GEORGE — Four suspects, three from Las Vegas and a fourth from New Jersey, were arrested in connection with a string of thefts reported at multiple retailers in St. George. Police said they spotted them within minutes of the final theft after officers just missed the crime in progress two previous times.
On Tuesday, officers responded to a report of a theft at a retail store on E. Red Cliffs Drive shortly after 4 p.m. involving three suspects who reportedly took more than $3,600 in merchandise and then left the store prior to officers arriving.
According to charging documents filed with the courts, the store provided law enforcement with photos and a description of the suspects — described as two men and a woman who was wearing a wig that witnesses said she removed in the parking lot — as well as the vehicle the trio was driving, which was a gray sedan.
Three hours later, officers responded to a second retail theft at a business on River Road and arrived to learn that more than $3,000 in merchandise was taken from the store. Surveillance footage showed three suspects that matched the same individuals involved in the earlier call. Like the first case, the suspects left the store prior to officers arriving.
Officers were also provided a license plate that matched a gray Volkswagen sedan.
Meanwhile, officers were dispatched to a third reported theft at the Walmart on Pioneer Road in Bloomington, where footage captured inside of the store showed the same three individuals involved in the two earlier incidents, as well as the license plate that also matched the one provided in the earlier incident.
The suspects left the store with more than $1,500 in merchandise prior to police arriving on scene. Minutes later, an officer spotted the gray Volkswagon at a nearby gas station as additional officers were dispatched to the scene.
As officers approached, they found four individuals in the vehicle, three of which matched the suspects reportedly involved in the three incidents. All four were detained and separated by police.
Through the front windshield, officers could see multiple perfume packages that matched items taken from the River Road merchant. During a search of the car, officers recovered numerous items. By the time the search was completed, all property reported as stolen from all three businesses was recovered by police.
Additionally, officers also recovered more than $2,500 in merchandise from a fourth retailer that still had price tags. Some still had the security sensors attached to the items. Officers then separated the property so it could be returned to each of the stores.
Also recovered from the car were several drug paraphernalia-related items, which were found in and around each seat of the vehicle, along with a “usable amount” of suspected heroin.
During an interview, police said 40-year-old Louis Elhalim admitted that he stole items from the three initial merchants, adding he only drove the vehicle to the fourth store but never went in.
The suspect also said that after each of the thefts, the suspects would “switch roles.”
Officers also interviewed a second suspect, 37-year-old Angela Lynn Wanta, who said all four thefts took place on that same day, according to the report, and also said they were involved in an unrelated theft at a sunglass store reported the week before.
Wanta went on to admit to participating in two of the thefts, but denied being involved in the theft at the Walmart, police said.
Police said the third suspect, 27-year-old Jeremy Crain-Schroeder, explained it was his first time in St. George and said he had not participated in the thefts reported the previous week. He also said he attempted to steal items from the Walmart and was “caught on video surveillance clearly stealing merchandise from the store,” the officer noted.
All three suspects were Nevada residents who traveled to St. George from their homes in Las Vegas.
The final suspect, identified as 28-year-old Jesse Pate of Red Bank, New Jersey, told officers he did participate in the Walmart theft, but said he was unaware “they were going to steal high-price items,” the report states. During the theft at the River Road store, he said he did not realize the prices were so high on some of the items.
During the booking process, all four suspects reportedly admitted to using heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
All four suspects were booked into jail facing four third-degree felony counts of retail theft, along with possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, each a misdemeanor.
Pate faces an additional felony count of retail theft.
With all four suspects living out of state with no ties to the local area, officers requested the group be held in jail without bail, a request that was approved by the courts.
This report is based on preliminary information provided by law enforcement 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.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.