Police: Two men arrested for stealing from multiple Cedar City storage units
May 30, 2023, 3:39 PM | Updated: 3:39 pm
FILE - Handcuffs in a jail cell. (Ravell Call, Deseret News)
(Ravell Call, Deseret News)
CEDAR CITY, Utah — Two men are accused of breaking in into multiple storage units from April to May, with one suspect stealing from the other.
On Saturday, 31-year-old William Paul Kurtis and 27-year-old Thompson Lawson Robbie were booked into the Iron County Jail after search warrants were executed on their homes, according to affidavits.
Iron County Sherriff’s deputies say the first reported burglary happened on April 26 at the Fort Knox Mini Storage on 5616 W., 600 North in Cedar City.
According to affidavits, six different units had their locks cut and broken into. The reported stolen items ranged from a Honda ATV, TVs, drones, and video game consoles.
Cedar City police said Kurtis and Robbie broke into other local storage unit businesses five times in May, stealing power tools, medical equipment, storage boxes, another ATV, TVs, and clothing.
According to the affidavits, security footage captured two suspects stealing from one of the storage units in an “older model minivan.” A Cedar City officer recognized Kurtis and the van from a previous vehicle burglary in April.
Cedar City police officers went to Kurtis’s home and matched the car seen in the security footage to his parked car. Officers began to watch his home and took Kurtis to the police station for questioning on May 24. According to the affidavits, Kurtis denied any involvement in stealing from the storage units and couldn’t explain why his car was used in the burglaries.
On May 27, Cedar City police executed search warrants on Kuritis’s house and Robbie’s apartment and arrested the two men for the burglaries. Police said they found all the stolen items from the storage unit burglaries spread out in the two suspects’ homes, along with shoes matching footprints left behind at one of the burglaries. Police also found methamphetamine in Kurtis’s home.
According to the affidavits, Robbie admitted to police that he and Kurtis were involved in the burglaries and stole all the recovered items.
Robbie also told police that Kurtis had an access code for one of the storage units, and he stole a handgun that Kurtis owned.
According to the affidavits, one of the ATV victims recognized Robbie, who was working on a neighbor’s ATV, and allowed him to work in their shop before his own ATV was stolen.
Robbie and Kurtis are facing multiple third-degree felony charges of burglary, second-degree felony charges of theft of a motor vehicle, and misdemeanor charges of possessing burglary tools.
According to the affidavits, Kurties faces additional misdemeanor charges of possessing a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. Robbie is facing an additional second-degree felony of stealing a firearm.
