Police return stolen property: ‘It’s probably the largest seizure that I’ve seen in my career’
Feb 9, 2022, 4:05 PM | Updated: Jun 13, 2022, 4:14 pm
UPD Deputy Chief Justin Hoyal shows all the stuff found in what he says is the largest recovery of stolen goods he’s seen in his career. (KSL TV)
(KSL TV)
SALT LAKE COUNTY — Detectives in Salt Lake County need to find the rightful owners of hundreds of thousands of dollars of property stolen in recent months.
They showed off the property in a warehouse Wednesday and still have not sorted through all of it.
Unified Police Department officers are trying to track down their prime suspect in the case, right now.
Over the last several days UPD recovered so much stolen property it’s possibly the biggest burglary ring they’ve ever busted.
“It’s probably the largest seizure that I’ve seen in my career of stolen property that we found,” said Deputy Chief Justin Hoyal.
Among the collection of recovered property: expensive bicycles, four firearms, power tools, skis, rare coins, sports memorabilia. You name it, detectives said it’s probably in that load of stuff.
They recovered nearly all of it during the last two days, and believe there are hundreds of victims.
Police think the burglar has been at it for quite some time and they do not think he was working alone.
“For the last week and a half, our detectives have worked tirelessly interviewing witnesses, gathering evidence, reviewing video footage and trying to find those responsible for this case,” Hoyal said.
They got a break about a week and a half ago after a series of burglaries at a condo complex in Holladay. Storage units were burglarized, and so were cars. Seven burglaries there led detectives into a much bigger case.
“Right now, our detectives are taking on the task of identifying those who are involved in this,” Hoyal said. “The primary suspect we are looking for, we know who that individual is, and we’re searching for him right now. As a matter of fact, as we served a search warrant on his home Monday, he fled from officers in a stolen vehicle and is on the run right now.”
Unified police are not releasing his name right now. They’re trying to find out who’s been working with him.
They’re also going through all of the stolen property, booking it into evidence, and trying to identify the rightful owners so that they can return it.
If you think your property may be part of this case, call 385-468-9920.
Hoyal reminds everyone that this is why it’s so important to record serial numbers and even take photographs of valuables so you can get your stolen property back if it’s recovered.
