Crime briefs

Burglary suspect faces 46 charges

A man accused of burglarizing vehicles at several Salt Lake apartment complexes was charged Friday with 46 different charges.

Prosecutors said Joe Peplow, 23, was seen on surveillance video as one male climbed over a gate at the Arlington Place apartment complex, 115 S. 1100 East, and let two other males through a pedestrian door. Four vehicles were burglarized, according to the charges filed in 3rd District Court.

On May 5 and 6 a total of eight vehicles were burglarized at the Aztec condominiums at 500 South and 1000 East, the charges state. Two vehicles were broken into at Hawthorne apartments at 727 E. 600 South, and another vehicle burglary occurred at the Garden Towers complex at 141 E. Second Avenue, according to the charges.

After reviewing surveillance video from all of the apartments, police interviewed Peplow, and he admitted to committing the burglaries with two other individuals, according to the charges.

Prosecutors filed an extensive report against Peplow, including 12 counts of theft, five counts of burglary, both third-degree felonies, 15 counts of vehicle burglary, two counts of criminal mischief, both class-A misdemeanors, and 12 counts of criminal mischief, a class-B misdemeanor.

— Cimaron Neugebauer

Man not mentally competent for trial

Michael Doyel, who is charged with kidnapping and murder, along with other crimes, has made good progress in his treatment at the Utah State Hospital, but still needs more psychiatric help before he can be declared psychologically able to go to trial, a judge decided Friday.

Third District Judge Judith Atherton said the report she received regarding Doyel's mental state was "quite hopeful — Mr. Doyel really does appear to be responding to treatment at the state hospital." However, the mental health professional who wrote the report concluded that Doyel still was mentally incompetent to stand trial.

The judge set Doyel's next review hearing for May 14, 2010.

Doyel, 48, is charged in Utah District Court in two separate cases with murder and kidnapping, both first-degree felonies, along with obstruction of justice and theft, both second-degree felonies. Prosecutors say Doyel killed his former girlfriend, Deborah Jones, and also took another person, Patricia Murray, a handicapped woman, with him on a cross country journey without the consent of her guardian.