Phone left at crime scene is helpful

LEHI — Police investigating a robbery that involved a safe being yanked out of a business and a stolen forklift thought they had a pretty good idea how to find the suspect. He apparently left his cell phone behind.

"We got lucky, I figure, then my guys ran with it. I'm glad they buckled down and got them," Lehi Police Chief Chad Smith recently told the City Council.

There were three known addresses for the cell phone's owner, so police officers staked out each location after the Oct. 2 robbery. Two days later, the cell phone's owner arrived at his home in Sandy, noticed the police and took off. After a car chase, the man ran away on foot but was cornered by officers, who arrested him.

"He had two loaded pistols on the front seat and one in his belt and these guys were chasing him," Smith said.

The man is charged with four counts of burglary, third-degree felonies, four counts of theft, second-degree felonies, a second-degree felony count of criminal mischief, three third-degree felony counts of criminal mischief and wrongful appropriation, a third-degree felony. He is scheduled to be in court Nov. 1.

Police say the man stole 38 guns, cash and jewelry when he used a stolen pickup truck to rip the safe through the building. Police say the man later stole a forklift from a Utah Department of Transportation construction site to carry the safe to other locations where tools, cell phones, a computer and car keys were taken.

Officers found the man's cell phone among the evidence in the initial search.