St. George man signs own name while allegedly stealing gas 6 separate times

Stock image courtesy of Pixabay, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A St. George man allegedly stole gas in Ivins by signing his own name for the account of a business he never worked for.

Brian Nelson Broadbent, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted March 28, 2018 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Brian Nelson Broadbent, of St. George, allegedly stole the gas for his own vehicle from Lightfoot’s Fuel Center in Ivins six times within the last month, Santa Clara-Ivins Police officer Randy Hancey said.

He got away without paying for the fuel by using the handwritten account of a local business at the gas station, Hancey said. Each time he used the business account, Hancey said Broadbent signed his own name on the ledger inside the gas station.

When the business owner came into the gas station to settle the account near the end of the month, Hancey said, he noticed Broadbent’s name on the ledger. The business owner confirmed Broadbent was neither an employee of the business nor had he ever been an employee.

“It wasn’t too hard to find him because he used his real name,” Hancey said.

The total sum of the gas Broadbent allegedly stole added up to about $350, Hancey said, noting that the Lightfoot’s took the loss of the theft because the business owner of the account wasn’t going to pay for gas for someone else.

Police are still trying to determine how Broadbent knew about the business account he was using.

Broadbent was arrested at his home in St. George Wednesday and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane on six felony forgery charges. The Washington County Attorney’s Office, however, filed an information in 5th District Court Thursday charging him with six third-degree felony counts of identity fraud and six third-degree felony counts of theft by deception.

Bail required for Broadbent’s release is set at $30,000, according to the probable cause statement sealed by the 5th District Court in Washington County.

Broadbent faced similar charges in 2017, resulting in a felony theft conviction in November. According to court documents, that matter is an open case with Broadbent scheduled to appear before Westfall on April 4 due to probation violation allegations.

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

Updated March 30, 2018: This report is updated to identify charges ultimately filed against Broadbent by the Washington County Attorney’s Office Thursday and to include his prior 2017 conviction.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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4 Comments

  • Carpe Diem March 29, 2018 at 4:30 pm

    Bail about 35,000 for a stupid $350 theft. And the guy with 2 pounds of meth in the front seat gets only a 25,000 bail. SMH

  • comments March 29, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    OMG NO! LOL! No one can be that dumb! I just don’t belive it. There has got to be more to this story.

  • PlanetU March 29, 2018 at 9:35 pm

    Well, he does have his white shirt on so he can’t be that bad…just stupid…….

  • Rob83 March 30, 2018 at 8:22 am

    Is there actual video footage of this guy signing his name or did someone forge his signature to cover their tracks and he gets blamed?

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