Police arrest 48-year-old woman for allegedly burglarizing inmates’ home

ST. GEORGE – A 48-year-old St. George woman was arrested Saturday for burglary after she allegedly entered the home of two people who were themselves in jail and helped herself to their belongings.

Officers responded to the area of 700 North and 1100 East in St. George on a residential burglary where an 80-year-old woman told police she owned the residence but did not live there, according to a probable cause statement written by St. George Police Officer Burk Christian in support of the arrest.

The woman said she had been checking on the residence because the two people who lived there had recently been arrested. When she had left the residence at noon Friday, she said the front door was locked and the doggy door was not broken, the statement said. However, when she returned at 7 a.m. the next day, she found the front door unlocked, and the doggy door appeared to have been kicked in and damaged.

Dominique Caprise Ribarich, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted July 4, 2015 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News  
Dominique Caprise Ribarich, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted July 4, 2015 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

As she walked through the residence, she said she noticed several items appeared to be missing but couldn’t say for certain which items because she didn’t own the items.

“Inside the residence, the cabinet doors and furniture had appeared to have been looked in and tossed around,” Christian wrote in the statement. “(The woman) had said that this house was not like this when she left yesterday.”

A man who lived across the street told police he saw a neighbor, identified as 48-year-old Dominique Caprise Ribarich, walking away from the residence, carrying a large white garbage bag full of different items, the statement said.

After contacting the actual residents of the home, officers learned Ribarich did not have permission to be at the home and that they “would never allow her into their residence,” according to the statement.

Officers went to Ribarich’s home and interviewed her about the incident.

Ribarich admitted to police that she entered the residence and took $20 worth of food and a garbage bag from the laundry room, the statement said, but said she didn’t break the doggy door. She said she went through an unlocked front door.

As officers placed Ribarich under arrest, she told them she was having a diabetic episode. She was transported to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George for medical clearance before being transported to the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.

Ribarich was booked into the correctional facility and charged with a second-degree felony for burglary of a dwelling and two class B misdemeanors for theft and criminal mischief.

She made her initial court appearance Monday. According to booking information as this report is published, Ribarich is still in custody.

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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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

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