American Fork pawn shop owner arrested, thefts under investigation

PROVO — Police investigating a string of stolen items being pawned ended up arresting a pawn shop owner who they say knowingly accepted thousands of dollars worth of stolen items.

Saturday afternoon, American Fork Police responded to a pawn shop on a suspicious incident of four people selling new property, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in 4th District Court.

Once there, police stopped two individuals still at the store and began talking with the owner about what they were selling.

The 56-year-old owner told police that two other suspects who got away had taken the items with them. He repeatedly told officers the items were not in the store, according to the affidavit.

After getting permission to search the store, officers found the stolen items, including new televisions with the UPC symbols cut off, tucked away in a back room, according to the affidavit.

The owner told police he knew the items were stolen and hid them so police couldn't find them, according to the affidavit.

He told police he had taken off the television UPC codes so he could sell them on eBay, the affidavit said. It said the owner also admitted to taking two stolen vacuum cleaners the day before from the same suspects.

In fact, he told police that thousands of dollars of property in the store was stolen by the suspects, and purchased by him, according to the affidavit.

The man was booked into the Utah County Jail for investigation of evidence tampering, possession of stolen property over $1,000 and possession of stolen property $500 to $1,000.