Overdose call at local motel sends suspect recently released from federal prison back to jail

ST. GEORGE — An overdose at a local motel led to the arrest of a St. George man, who was recently released from federal prison, where he served more than four years on a weapons charge.

Matthew Jonathan Stearns, 24, of St. George, booking photo taken in Washington County, Utah, Feb. 1, 2021 | Photo courtesy of the Washington county sheriff’s office, St. George news

Just after 6:30 p.m. on Monday, officers responded to the Red Lion Inn, where they arrived to find Matthew Jonathan Stearns, 24, being treated by emergency medical personnel for an alleged overdose.

Officers identified the man as Stearns from previous contacts and ran a records check, which revealed an active extraditable arrest warrant that was recently issued by the U.S. Marshal’s Service, according to a probable cause statement in support of the arrest.

Once Stearns was out of medical danger he was detained while officers recovered drugs and other evidence allegedly found inside of the room, which included what appeared to be heroin and methamphetamine, along with a debit card belonging to another individual and drug paraphernalia.

The suspect was transported to St. George Regional Medical Center, and once medically cleared, he was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility shortly after 10 p.m.

During the ride to the jail, the officer noted that Stearns appeared to be “very fidgety and restless” and then heard something drop on the floor of the vehicle where Stearns was sitting. The officer asked the suspect a number of times if Stearns had anything on his person that he needed to hand over before they reached the jail, and each time the suspect denied having any contraband, according to the report.

Once they reached the jail, the suspect was escorted into the facility by corrections staff while the officer checked the floor of his patrol vehicle near the seat where the suspect was sitting, the report states, which is when the officer reportedly found a clear plastic container that contained a brown substance consistent with heroin.

During the booking process, the suspect continued to fidget and then reached into his waistband and began pulling out small baggies, containing what appeared to be methamphetamine that he was attempting to discard, but were recovered by jail staff, along a digital scale that was found in the suspect’s front pocket.

Due to the amount of methamphetamine and heroin found on Stearns, combined with the “totality of the evidence,” the officer noted, the suspect was booked on second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He also faces four third-degree felonies, including two counts of possession of a controlled substance, unlawful acquisition of a financial card and obstruction of justice for attempting to discard the drugs after he was taken into custody.

This is not Steans’  first brush with the law.

In 2016 Stearns faced second-degree aggravated robbery following an incident reported in April of that year. Officers responded to an apartment complex on Valley View Drive in St. George on a report of a robbery that had taken place in one of the units. Officers arrived and spoke to the tenant who reported that four men and three woman entered the apartment while he and a roommate were sleeping, according to charging documents filed with the court.

The tenant also stated that one of the suspects held a gun to his head and demanded he hand over his wallet and cell phone. He said he was then struck in the head with the gun just before the group fled from the apartment, taking the wallet and cell phone with them.

The report also states that both roommates went to a neighbor’s apartment and called police. Stearns was later identified through booking photos as the suspect who struck the tenant in the head with the gun. He was subsequently charged with aggravated robbery.

Stearns was also convicted of robbery in a case filed in September 2014 in St. George.

In that case, officers responded to a residence on West 300 North where they learned that three individuals were at the house when a verbal altercation took place in one of the bedrooms.

Both suspects were identified by a witness, one of whom was Stearns, who did not point the gun at the tenant but removed some of the property and was present when the incident took place.

Officers were unable to locate the suspects until the following month when police were called out to a family fight that ended up being an argument between the two suspects. Officers spoke to Stearns who reportedly admitted he had been at the residence when the incident took place and said he took some of the resident’s property, but denied having a weapon.

Both men were taken into custody and Stearns was charged with robbery. He pleaded guilty to the charge the following year and was sentenced to serve 160 days in jail and placed on 36-months’ probation during a hearing in March 2015. As a result of several probation violations, the case remained active for another year.

Then, in 2016, Stearns faced a federal firearms charge for taking a 40 caliber Smith and Wesson across state lines and was sentenced to serve 57 months in a federal correctional facility the following year. As a result, the defendant’s state charges that were still pending, including the aggravated robbery charge, were dismissed and the 2014 case was closed by the court.

Following Monday’s incident, Stearns is scheduled to make an initial appearance in 5th District Court on Friday. He remains in custody on the current charges as well as the federal hold and is being held without bail.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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