Suspect out on bail with long criminal history faces multiple felony charges following arrest

Composite image with background photo by Matt Gush/iStock/Getty Images Plus,; overlay stock photo of St. George Police uniform by Cody Blowers | St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A local man who was out on bail in connection with similar crimes was arrested during a traffic stop on Tuesday, after officers found several bank cards in another individual’s name and a key to a pickup that had been reported as stolen and later found abandoned in St. George.

Stock image for illustrative purposes only of multiple police units near South Bluff Street, St. George, Utah, March 16, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

An officer noticed a vehicle traveling on Bluff Street Tuesday that was driven by a woman who was known to authorities from several prior run-ins and who had an active warrant for her arrest.

According to the probable cause statement the officer stopped the vehicle in the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn on South Bluff Street shortly after 3 a.m. As soon as the vehicle stopped, however, all four occupants exited the car and started walking away from authorities on foot, until they were called back and told to remain near the car.

During a search of the vehicle, officers recovered a brown zipper bag from the trunk, and inside, they found a used syringe with a white crystal substance in it. When asked who the bag belonged to, one passenger said the bag belonged to him. He identified himself under a false name and was later found to be 37-year-old Jason James Hollick,

When the suspect was searched, officers retrieved a small Ziplock baggie from his front pocket that contained suspected methamphetamine. Officers recovered a driver’s license belonging to a woman that was seized as evidence.

As the search continued, police retrieved five financial cards that didn’t belong to any of the four, and when the name was run through dispatch the officer learned the cards were inside of a Ford pickup truck that was reported as stolen. The truck had been found abandoned in St. George earlier that day.

The officer also noted a Ford key attached to a lanyard that matched the description of the key described by the pickup owner – a key consistent with the type that would be issued on a Ford truck.

While speaking to police, Hollick said another man had given him the credit cards and key to the Ford, and went on to say while he thought the key and bank cards may have been stolen, he took no part in the theft.

While the suspect was being booked into jail the officer ran the name that Hollick provided right after the traffic stop and found the name was linked with a criminal history that did not match the suspect. A further look into the name revealed that Hollick was listed as an alias, which is when the officer found an active felony warrant to possession of a stolen vehicle and other related charges. The officer further confirmed the suspect’s identity by pulling booking photos from prior arrests.

Following Tuesday’s arrest, Hollick faces five third-degree felony counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card, as well as misdmeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia, theft by receiving stolen property, possession of another’s identifying documents and providing false info with intent to be another actual person.

The officer also noted that Hollick has an extensive criminal history in multiple states that include convictions for burglary, theft and possessing another person’s financial transaction cards. The officer also noted that Hollick was out on bail at the time of the recent arrest, which was one of three arrests  involving a stolen vehicle involving the suspect since August. He also found three prior convictions for vehicle theft between 2009 and 2010, plus a grand theft conviction during that same period.

The officer requested that Hollick be held without bail.

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

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