Detectives looking for stolen guns

Two unrelated cases of stolen weapons have detectives from the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office looking for more than a dozen handguns and rifles.

Thursday about 6 a.m., a White City resident was warming up his vehicle in his driveway and ran back into his house for a minute. When he came back out his vehicle was gone, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.

The vehicle's owner had left five weapons in his car from the night before, including an SKS Russian assault rifle, a shotgun, a .357 Magnum, a 9 mm handgun and at least one other handgun, Jaroscak said. The guns were not loaded but there was some ammunition in the vehicle. The owner, however, did not know Thursday morning which weapons the ammunition went with.

Detectives were looking Thursday for a red 2006 full-size Dodge pickup. Anyone with information on the vehicle or the weapons can call the sheriff's office at 743-7000.

That incident came on the heels of another Wednesday in which a man was arrested for investigation of stealing more than a dozen guns from his father.

A Herriman resident noticed New Year's Eve that his shotgun was missing, Jaroscak said. The next day he went looking for his 12 other guns he had hidden throughout the house but discovered they were gone as well. The man last saw his weapons in October, but had not had any forced entry into his house.

The man suspected his 23-year-old son, who had stolen from him in the past and had just gotten out of rehab for addiction to Oxycontin, maybe responsible, Jaroscak said.

Detectives got a list of all the missing weapons — 13 guns, rifles and shotguns worth between $8,000 to $10,000 — and found they had been sold to pawn shops, Jaroscak said.

Tyler James Raines was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of 12 counts of burglary and 12 counts of theft by deception, all third-degree felonies, as well as 12 counts of possession of stolen property.

Detectives Thursday were working to recover the guns sold to the pawn shops.

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