ST. GEORGE — A local man accused of breaking into a residence in Hurricane and assaulting the homeowner over the weekend was arrested and charged with aggravated burglary. He remains in jail without bail.
On Sunday, officers responded to an initial call of disorderly conduct shortly after 8 a.m. involving a suspect who reportedly entered “a home that was not his,” in Hurricane, the officer noted in the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.
During the call, officers learned that the caller was upstairs while her husband was dealing with the suspect. When officers arrived, the homeowner was outside of the residence and bleeding from the mouth, an injury that resulted from what appeared to have been an assault.
The homeowner told officers that an unknown man had entered their home and during the struggle, the suspect locked the front door — which purportedly locked the homeowners outside.
Officers climbed the retaining wall separating the backyard from the street. As they continued through the backyard and approached the rear of the home, they found a sliding door that was ajar. The report states officers could hear loud crashing sounds coming from inside of the house consistent with items being broken.
When officers approached the house and confronted the suspect, he reportedly refused to exit the home. Following multiple orders to exit the home, officers forced the door open and deployed a taser, which had little effect on subduing the suspect, according to the report.
Following multiple commands and another taser deployment, the suspect was eventually forced to the ground and placed in handcuffs, then later identified as 45-year-old Joshua Robert Clark, of St. George.
With the suspect detained, officers searched the home where they found items thrown around the kitchen in a state of disarray. In the dining area, the report states, officers found a hole in the wall that the homeowners said was not there prior to the incident.
Officers also found that several vehicles parked on the street near the residence had been broken into. When patrol officers tracked down the owners, each confirmed that someone had gone through their vehicle. One of which had also been damaged during the alleged break-in, according to police.
The suspect was checked by medical at the scene and then transported to St. George Regional Hospital for further evaluation. From there, the suspect was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility and booked into jail facing first-degree felony aggravated burglary.
Officers also found evidence to support five misdemeanor charges, including two counts of property damage-destruction and one count each of vehicle burglary, assault for the injury to the homeowner, along with one count of interfering with an arresting officer.
The arresting officers indicated that Clark remained noncompliant throughout the ordeal and made multiple statements claiming that he worked for the FBI.
On Monday, formal charges were filed by the Washington County Attorney’s Office that included an additional misdemeanor charge of vehicle burglary, bringing the total number of charges filed to seven.
The public safety assessment filed at the time of the suspect’s arrest indicated an elevated risk of committing a violent crime. As such, officers requested that Clark be held without bail, a request that was approved by District Judge Jay Winward.
In September, approximately three weeks prior to the arrest on Sunday, Clark was arrested for allegedly breaking into a house that was unoccupied at the time of the incident. Officers responded to learn the suspect had gained entry after breaking one of the windows.
Clark came out of the house when officers arrived and he was arrested and booked into jail facing misdemeanor criminal trespass and destruction of property charges, as well as possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and released shortly after. That case is still pending in the courts.
Following the recent arrest, the suspect made an initial appearance in 5th District Court in St. George on Monday and remains in custody without bail. Prior to the arrest over the weekend, Clark has no previous felony charges or convictions in Utah 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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