During the early hours of Friday morning last week, Park City Police found and arrested two burglary suspects in Old Town.
It began when officers noticed and confronted a woman sitting in a parked car. According to Park City Police Lieutenant Jay Randall, she told the officers she was waiting for a boyfriend. Several purses along with tools Randall described as being for breaking into cars were in plain view, and when pressed on why she was out so late, her answers didn’t add up. Eventually, a man returned to the car, and when officers tried to detain the pair, he fled.
Randall said Summit County Sheriff’s deputies helped to track the man down on a balcony near Main Street in the Town Lift area.
Officers arrested the pair on charges including vehicle burglary, providing false information and fleeing. Following the arrests, police tied them to three burglary reports in Old Town and are investigating their involvement in other cases of stolen purses and credit cards.
That follows a recent trend of thefts by people from out of town coming to Park City and greater Summit County to steal.
“Typically, it's usually more than one person,” Randall said. “We're finding that it’s usually a team - at least two, typically. They'll come up, they'll hit cars, and then they'll head back home. Typically, in these kinds of things, they’ll pull the doors and if they're unlocked, they'll rummage through real quickly and move on to the next one.”
In town, he said cars that are unlocked attract thefts most often. He also said it’s happening more at local trailheads, where people can more easily get away with smashing windows to steal valuables.
He said thieves in town usually go for easy targets and advised people to take basic precautions.
“The one thing about burglars is they typically don't want to cause you know, any kind of attention to themselves. You need to keep things out of view if you're gonna keep them in your cars, but also keep your cars locked.”
In a recent interview with KPCW, Summit County Sheriff Justin Martinez also warned of people coming from the Salt Lake Valley to steal from people's cars more frequently.