Suspect arrested in Ivins when deputies stop him driving alleged stolen truck, tractor and trailer

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ST. GEORGE — A license plate reader and an alert officer led to the arrest of a man who was found in a pickup truck reported as stolen out of Mesquite, Nevada, along with a tractor and trailer that went missing from a job site in Washington City.

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On Wednesday, an officer was heading east on Snow Canyon Parkway near the Entrada Trail in a patrol vehicle equipped with a license plate reader shortly after 3 a.m. when he was alerted to a stolen vehicle traveling west on the same street.

The officer ran the plate through emergency dispatch that confirmed the white Ford F-150 was reported as stolen out of Mesquite, Nevada.

Two deputies with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office caught up with the pickup on Center Street and Puerto Drive in Ivins and conducted a felony traffic stop on the vehicle.

The driver was identified as 42-year-old Brandon Matthew Wall, who was taken into custody without incident.

Meanwhile, attached to the pickup was a tractor loaded onto flat-bed trailer, and when officers contacted the tractor owner they learned the tractor and trailer were taken from a job site in Washington City. The pickup was impounded by police to be returned to Nevada.

During transport, officers ran a license check on the suspect that returned showing Wall was reportedly driving on a suspended license and was required to have an interlock device installed on his vehicle, which the Ford did not have.

The suspect also told officers he would not answer any questions without an attorney present. He was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility facing three second-degree counts of possessing or receiving a stolen vehicle, along with two misdemeanor charges for driving on a suspended license and the interlock offense. An order to hold the defendant without bail was signed by District Judge John J. Walton early Wednesday morning.

On Thursday, Wall was formally charged with the offenses and made an initial appearance in 5th District Court. A bail reduction hearing is scheduled to take place on May 5, and until then, the suspect remains in custody without bail.

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.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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