ST. GEORGE — Three suspects were arrested Wednesday after an assault call led to the recovery of a stolen pickup truck.
On Wednesday, officers were dispatched to a motel on South Bluff Street in St. George shortly before 2 p.m., on a report of an assault involving a suspect wearing a dark-colored shirt, jeans and a pink hat.
Officers arrived to find a man matching the description “following a female around the parking lot,” the officer noted in the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.
The man was identified as 34-year-old Casey Coltrain, of Parris, California, who reportedly told officers the woman was his girlfriend and that they had been arguing outside but that it never turned physical.
Officers also spoke to the woman, identified as Jackalyn Elise Arneson, of Delta, who asked to return to the motel room for a drink of water. As soon as the officer entered the room, a man approached with a set of keys that he handed over to the police, the report states.
Authorities say, when asked what the keys were for, the man, identified as 20-year-old John James Bowman, of St. George, said the keys belonged to a stolen vehicle that could be found parked up the street.
The officer went to where a white Ford pickup truck was parked on East 1070 South. The truck matched a previous report of a stolen vehicle out of Millard County reportedly taken from the parking lot of an IFA store in Delta.
The officer ran the plates through emergency dispatch to confirm the truck was reported stolen before returning to the motel to speak to the parties.
When Coltrain was advised he was being placed under arrest, he initially denied ever having been in the truck and then told police it was Bowman who had stolen the truck, according to the report. Coltrain also reportedly said Bowman was driving the truck when he picked him up the day before.
Prior to going to jail, Coltrain asked the officer if he could grab his bag of pens from the motel room, but when the officer looked inside, the report states, he only saw a glass pipe, which the suspect said was not his, but belonged to Arneson. He then was transported to jail in Washington County.
Officers then spoke to Bowman, who allegedly admitted to driving the truck when he picked up Coltrain, adding that he knew the vehicle was stolen but was not the one who stole it. He also said he tried to call police to report it, but his statement was called into question when the officer found no record of anyone calling into emergency dispatch to report a stolen vehicle, the report states.
Bowman was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility.
Meanwhile, police say Arneson told officers that Coltrain had shown up at her Delta home driving the Ford pickup truck and said he “had a vehicle and they were leaving to California together,” and she agreed to go.
Even though the two were dating, she said she did not question Coltrain on how he acquired such a high-end truck despite the fact he was unemployed and had no access to a pickup, the report states, adding that she said it wasn’t until they reached Cedar City that Coltrain disclosed to her that the truck was stolen.
Even so, the officer noted, Arneson had traveled many miles in the pickup and never once reported it as stolen, even during the times she was not with the suspect. Arneson was arrested and transported to jail shortly thereafter.
All three suspects were booked into custody facing one second-degree felony count each of possession of a stolen vehicle. Bowman faces an additional charge of possession of paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.
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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