Police nab Wal-Mart shoplifter for possession of stolen credit cards, drugs

WASHINGTON CITY – A 35-year-old Taylorsville man was arrested Saturday for drug possession and unlawful finance card acquisition after he reportedly attempted to steal merchandise from the Washington Wal-Mart, located at 625 W. Telegraph Road in Washington.

A Wal-Mart employee saw Justin McCandless conceal store merchandise  in his backpack and then proceed past all points of sale, Washington City Police Officer Brady Argyle said in his probable cause statement supporting the arrest.

Justin McCandless, of Taylorsville, Utah, booking photo posted Nov. 8, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s booking, St. George News
Justin McCandless, of Taylorsville, Utah, booking photo posted Nov. 8, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s booking, St. George News

McCandless was stopped by Wal-Mart Loss Prevention and the store items were found in his possession, Argyle said in the statement. A warrant was then obtained to search McCandless’ vehicle.

Methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia were found in McCandless’ vehicle during the search, Argyle said in the statement, and McCandless admitted they belonged to him.

During the search of the vehicle, officers also discovered two Utah driver’s licenses that did not belong to McCandless, along with nine credit/debit cards that also did not belong to McCandless.

“(McCandless) admitted to possessing the credit/debit cards knowing that they were stolen,” Argyle said in the statement.

Argyle ran McCandless through the Utah system and was notified that he had two outstanding warrants for his arrest.

McCandless was arrested and charged with one third-degree felony for drug possession; nine third-degree felonies for unlawful acquisition of a finance card without consent; two class A misdemeanors for possessing another person’s identifying documents without consent; and a class B misdemeanor for the possession of drug paraphernalia.

McCandless was booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility on Saturday, where he is being held without bail.

According to Utah court documents, McCandless’ warrants stemmed from similar charges of unlawful acquisition and unlawful use of a finance card, for which he was arrested and charged earlier this year and then failed to appear at a court hearing.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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13 Comments

  • Koolaid November 10, 2014 at 3:55 pm

    Is this guy locally born and bred? What’s his bishop got to say about all this?

    • Zonkerb November 11, 2014 at 3:18 am

      Going to get his interview after the church dance

  • Billy Madison November 10, 2014 at 6:25 pm

    Another low-life scum bag off the streets. I hope no dances are scheduled so that the cops will have more time to catch these hopeless losers.

    • Zonkerb November 11, 2014 at 3:17 am

      It’s amazing what cops can do when they don’t stand around and stop people from dancing

  • ladybugavenger November 10, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    There was another guy that got arrested too. I saw him in handcuffs inside Walmart. And a lot of cops outside. Don’t steal.from Walmart people, you are stealing my bonus

  • DAVE RABBITT November 10, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    Because this man is a suspected drug user, could it be safe to hypothesize that he could have been experiencing a “lapse” in good judgment?

    Perhaps he was simply confused and thought that he paid for the those items? Users of methamphetamine may suffer brain damage, including memory loss and an increasing inability to grasp abstract thoughts. Those who recover are usually subject to memory gaps.

    Drug addiction is a complex disease. Meth users can experience long periods of sleep deprivation and confusion. Perhaps the combination of sleep deprivation and confusion is what caused him to take all those credit cards, as well?

    I think that we need government regulations that would include a warning label to be added to all distributed containers of methamphetamine. This warning label would read:

    SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Inhaling, smoking, or shooting this product into your veins, may take away your life, liberty and/or pursuit of happiness. You have been warned.

    Until then, how can we prove (beyond the shadow of a doubt) that a person who has used methamphetamine – Did so “Knowingly, Willfully and/or Intentionally”???

    Come on, people! This is UTAH! – Where NO ONE EVERRR does ANYTHING – “on purpose”! Right?

    On another note: a commenter who replied under the name “Billy Madison” added:

    “Another low-life scum bag off the streets. I hope no dances are scheduled so that the cops will have more time to catch these hopeless losers”.

    “Billy” : Perhaps the police had more time to catch these hopeless losers, because they didn’t have to babysit other hopeless losers, who need the police AND the City Council to hold their hand through a simple permit process? Maybe “facebook” should have a filter that catches words like: “Dance, Rave or Party”. As soon as someone types in one of those words, they will be immediately redirected to a city-hosted site, where they will be instructed (in specific detail) what they are required to do to obtain a permit.

    But until then – Ignorantia juris non excusat.

    • tight magic undies November 10, 2014 at 9:25 pm

      Nihil curo de ista tura stulta superstitione!

    • Zonkerb November 11, 2014 at 3:21 am

      … I have better things to do than read you pathetic whining post Whaaaaaaaa lWhaaaaaaaa so without reading anything you wrote…. Shut … up. …!!
      Ed. ellipses: …*

    • Mary November 15, 2014 at 12:00 pm

      ” hypothesize that he could have been experiencing a “lapse” in good judgment? ”
      Alas you hypothesis includes the word lapse which would suggest there was good judgement otherwise , which makes it false .

      Unless of course you are defining the lapse as a period extending over YEARS .

      Meth / crack heads are the poster people for stupid ,
      NO good judgement to have a lapse from .

  • dancing infidel November 11, 2014 at 8:04 am

    Hey everybody….this occurred in Washington City. NOT St. George. Washington City is a “NO-PERMIT-REQUIRED-TO DANCE” zone. It is legal to dance in Washington City without the risk of getting arrested. Dance on….just don’t dance by the cash registers (aka: points of sale) with merchandise, while dancing inside Wal Mart.

  • sagemoon November 11, 2014 at 8:37 am

    Dang tweeker.

  • Mary November 15, 2014 at 11:56 am

    People are presumed innocent until found guilty ,
    Which is complicated by perps skipping on bail and
    NOT making it to court to be found guilty .

  • TruthBeTold November 30, 2014 at 10:29 pm

    I know Zonkerb and Koolaid personally and they are both active members of the LDS church. Don’t let their childish comments fool you all.

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