St. George Police arrest serial burglar they believe to be involved in construction site thefts, multiple crimes

2019 file photo for illustrative purposes only of St. George Police responding to an incident in St. George, Utah, April 10 | File photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — After conducting a year-long investigation into a string of burglaries, thefts and other crimes, St. George Police detectives have arrested a local man they believe was directly involved in 15 separate criminal incidents starting in April of last year.

2017 file photo for illustrative purposes only of construction site in Ivins, Utah, March 20, 2017 | File photo by Nakavius Jakwon, St. George News

On Tuesday, 44-year-old Aaron Dennis Foote was arrested and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility shortly before 5 p.m. He faces more than 30 felony charges, a dozen of which are second-degree felony counts, which include two counts of criminal mischief and 10 counts of theft. He also faces 19 third-degree felony charges, 16 of which are burglary of a non-dwelling, as well as one count each of theft, dangerous weapons and pattern of criminal activity, along with a misdemeanor weapons charge, according to eight probable cause statements filed in support of the arrest.

Evidence gathered during months-long investigation

The charges stem from multiple investigations into a series of burglaries in which matching evidence — footwear and tire impressions collected from the various scenes — indicated the same suspect likely was committing the break-ins.

An analysis of tire impressions collected from each scene had dimensions and tread wear consistent with one another. Similarly, photographs of the shoe impressions taken at one of the scenes had a tread pattern consistent with Nike Airmax.

2021: year of construction site burglaries

The first incident was reported in Washington City on May 17, 2021, when officers responded to a burglary at an address in the Washington Fields area. The police report indicated a suspect, later identified as Foote, broke into the building still under construction and reportedly stole more than $9,200 in appliances. There was also nearly $2,800 in damages to the door when the suspect broke in.

One image from the scene depicted what appeared to be a tire impression left by a Carlisle Radial trailer tire, which also matched the tire impressions left at a number of other crime scenes.

Detectives also garnered location information specific to Foote which revealed between the hours of 4:20 a.m. and 4:45 a.m., more than 50 individual GPS points that were located within 100 feet of the address where the crime took place.

One week later, officers responded to three separate homes that were under construction in the Middleton area of St. George and found that more than $13, 500 in property had been taken between the three structures.

At the scene officers found the same tire impressions as well as GPS information that showed six different GPS points for the suspect that were within 200 feet of the scene during a five-hour period on May 24, starting shortly after midnight.

2021 file photo for illustrative purposes only St. George Police officers responding to a crash in St. George, Utah, Jan. 18, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

On July 11, 2021, officers in St. George responded to a construction site in the Little Valley area after two buildings were broken into. They found items taken from each of the structures had a combined value of more than $6,800. The burglary was a three-hour operation that took place between 2:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.

On Aug. 30, officers again responded to the Little Valley area after more than $9,200 in property reportedly was stolen from two partially constructed buildings broken into shortly before 1 a.m.

On Oct. 18, 2021, officers responded to a construction site in the Desert Color area of St. George where two buildings were broken into and more than $9,200 in property was taken between the hours of 9:20 and 2:35 a.m. by the suspect who was matched to 18 GPS points located within 300 feet of the address.

Less than three weeks later, a second incident was reported at the Desert Color construction site on Nov. 1, where roughly $8,100 in property was taken from the partially-constructed building overnight.

On Nov. 7, officers responded to report of a burglary in the Little Valley area where $8,000 in property had been stolen during the early morning hours of Sept. 7, two months before the incident was reported to police.

Aaron Dennis Foote, 32 at time booking photo was taken in Cache County Utah, Feb. 11, 2010 | Photo courtesy of the Cache County Sheriff’s Office/KSL News, St. George News

The following month, detectives returned to the Desert Color area for a third time after more than $3,000 in property was stolen from an unfinished home of St. George on Dec. 6. The suspect also caused approximately $1,500 in damage by forcing his way into the building.

Search, evidence and recovery

After executing a search warrant on an address belonging to Foote, the report states, officers recovered appliances and other evidence directly linking the suspect to the incidents – including one unique light fixture reported as stolen. Additionally, investigators say, when taken as a whole, the evidence suggests the suspect chose to commit the crimes in the middle of the night – when he would be less likely to get caught or be confronted.

Detectives also noted the suspect owns a vehicle that turned out to have tires consistent with the impressions left at several scenes, along with a pair of Nike’s that matched the shoe impressions taken from one of the scenes.

When investigators obtained historical GPS locations for devices registered to an account owned by Foote, they were able to use location data to place the suspect’s electronic device near each of the burglary and theft scenes.

Moreover, those devices were in close proximity to the businesses during the early morning hours, or at other times when the businesses were closed.

In all, the analysis provided more than 218 data points showing that Foote was within 100-300 feet from each of the crime scenes when the break-ins were taking place.

The investigation also revealed that Foote had an extensive criminal history with convictions for theft and burglary. Police also learned the suspect worked as a contractor and would be familiar with the means by which to liquidate the property.

Drone voyeurism case of 2017

Foote made headlines in 2017 when he and his girlfriend were charged with voyeurism by electronic equipment for sending up a drone to peer into a number of residents’ bathrooms and bedrooms in Orem in January of that year, according to the warrant that was unsealed at the time of the arrest and according to a report published by KSL News.

The drone was turned over to police by an Orem man who saw a drone flying low outside his bathroom window on Dec. 3, 2017, and then followed it until it landed in a nearby church parking lot.

Foote was arrested and charged in 4th District Court with one count of voyeurism using concealed or disguised electronic equipment, a class A misdemeanor, and would later face a retaliation against a witness charge, along with multiple counts of violating a protective order, a class A misdemeanor.

Sting of serial burglaries in 2010

In 2010, he was arrested for a string of burglaries involving two dozen apartment break-ins near Utah State University, after officers began a search for the serial burglar, according to a report by KSL News. 

Following Tuesday’s arrest the suspect remains in custody 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, 2022, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!