From Deseret News archives:
Chase traverses greens
Golfers watch as police tackle burglary suspect
Officers chased a burglary suspect across the Red Hills Golf Course Tuesday, interrupting several games in progress before tackling the man near the driving range.
"While the officers were chasing him across the golf course, they commandeered a golf cart from maintenance," said St. George Police Sgt. Richard Triplett, laughing.
Investigators said Wednesday they believe Matthew Dunford, 28, may have been involved in more than a dozen large-scale burglaries in the Dixie area and about a dozen others in the Provo area.
Utah County sheriff's deputies found a storage shed of suspected stolen property and a St. George-area phone number written on a construction tool. That tipped police off to Dunford's whereabouts, police said.
St. George police officers were called to the Temple RV park by someone who reported eight units burglarized.
"He found that someone had actually been living in one of the units and left his wallet," Triplett said.
Officers started chasing leads about where Dunford had been and found him squatting in a relative's home, who is there only in the winter months.
"He sees us and starts running across the Red Hills Golf Course," Sgt. Craig Harding said Wednesday.
Officers pursued Dunford across the golf course, Triplett said.
"The people on there were getting ready to putt," he said.
The duffers may have missed their shot, but Triplett tackled the man near the driving range and put him in handcuffs.
Now, St. George police are going through two pickup loads full of suspected stolen property, trying to find the rightful owners.
Dunford was booked into the Purgatory Jail on investigation of six counts of burglary, a second-degree felony; possession of burglary tools, a class A misdemeanor; receiving stolen property, a second-degree felony; possession of stolen ID, a third-degree felony; burglary of a vehicle, a class A misdemeanor; failure to stop at an officer's command, a class A misdemeanor; a warrant out of Utah County and drug charges.
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
