ST. GEORGE —A 24-year-old local woman is being held without bail after investigators allegedly connected the suspect to a string of thefts reported in two jurisdictions.
Officers in Washington City were contacted last Friday by an employee of the Walmart store on Telegraph Street reporting that a suspect was seen in multiple clips of security footage.
The suspect, Courtney Carol Moon, was inside the Walmart store – a business she was prohibited from entering after she was trespassed from the property following a prior incident.
Court records also indicated the store’s loss prevention staff had previously identified Moon as one of the individuals involved in a theft reported at the end of October.
According to charging documents filed with the court, when officers responded to the store shortly after 7:30 p.m., they saw Moon driving a silver SUV through the parking lot of Walmart. The officers attempted to block the suspect to prevent her from fleeing.
The officer was at the suspect’s car door “in a matter of seconds,” the report states, and noticed Moon throw a cell phone to a man sitting in the front seat. Moon was removed from the vehicle by police. She was arrested and transported to jail facing retail theft and other charges.
Meanwhile, officers in Washington City also learned that Moon was a suspect in another theft reported at the end of October, when officers were dispatched to the Walmart on Pioneer road in St. George.
During that incident, two suspects, Moon and an unidentified man, were reportedly shoplifting at the store. The pair exited and were seen leaving the parking lot in a silver Nissan Pathfinder that had no license plate.
One of the officers canvassing the area spotted the Nissan parked in front of the Pilot gas station on Brigham Road in St. George that was still running and had no license plate.
Minutes later, officers watched as a couple exited the store and as they approached the pair, the man told officers, “I don’t have nothing to do with this,” and then he walked away.
While requesting assistance, Moon reportedly got back into her vehicle and drove off at a high rate of speed, followed by the officer with emergency lights and sirens activated.
The officer followed as the suspect exited the gas station onto Brigham Road heading east in the westbound lane traveling the wrong-way.
The Nissan then jumped the median and was traveling on the correct side of the road, and minutes later, officers found the abandoned Nissan on Hidden Valley Drive facing south in the northbound lane. From the outside of the SUV, officers could see a generator and a heater in the back of the cargo area.
During a search of the SUV, officers recovered property and other items reportedly taken from Walmart, and police identified one of the suspects reportedly involved in the theft as Moon who remained at large.
The officer also stated that “Courtney Moon needs to be located and arrested on this incident.”
Officers in St. George also learned of Moon’s arrest on the retail theft in Washington City, and shortly thereafter, additional charges stemming from the theft in October were submitted to the Washington County Attorney’s Office before Moon had a chance to bail out of jail.
It was then that officers received the following message from officers in Washington City regarding statements the suspect reportedly made to the officers: “She admitted multiple times to evading police that night with you guys and said she was going to turn herself in after the holidays.”
Investigators also learned through a background check that Moon had multiple prior cases and convictions for theft, which enhanced the charges from a misdemeanor to a felony.
The suspect was also tied to a theft reported on Oct. 7, when police say Moon and two other suspects went to the Walmart in Washington City and loaded two shopping carts with more than $600 in merchandise and continued on to the self-checkout.
Officers in Washington City were also investigating an earlier theft at the Walmart on Telegraph Street that was reported at the beginning of November, and while viewing the surveillance footage from the October theft in St. George, officers recognized the suspect as Moon. Police say she was reportedly involved in multiple thefts at the big box retail chains. Following the arrest, additional theft charges were filed in connection with the Nov. 7 incident.
In all, nine charges were filed between the three cases that include two third-degree felony counts – one for failing to stop at command of law enforcement and a second felony charge for possession of a controlled substance.
Moon also faces seven misdemeanor charges that include two counts of failing to stop at command of law enforcement and two counts of retail theft, as well as one count each of reckless driving and possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia.
Police also say that Moon was also on pretrial release for a case filed in August relating to a number of thefts reported at Herbst Terrible’s gas station on Pioneer Road in St. George that were reported over the course of a week starting on Aug. 12. The suspect was arrested and charged with misdemeanor theft and then released shortly thereafter. That case is still pending in the courts.
Charging documents filed in connection with Moon’s cases did not include any information on the identity of the other suspects allegedly involved.
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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