ST. GEORGE — A suspect accused of stealing several firearms during a store burglary has been arrested after he was identified by a blood sample taken at the scene of the crime.
The suspect, 41-year-0ld Brett Clinton Combs, was arrested last week and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility, where he remains in custody on a federal hold after a complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in June.
The arrest stems from an incident reported March 4, when officers were dispatched to a sporting goods store on Tabernacle Street after a “glass break” alarm was activated shortly before 5 a.m., according to federal court documents.
Officers arrived to find the front glass entrance door of the business shattered and then noticed that several cases containing multiple firearms and gun accessories had also been damaged, the report states. A review of the store’s surveillance footage showed a single suspect throwing a rock at the front door, which shattered the glass.
The footage then showed the same suspect inside the store damaging several display cases before grabbing a number of firearms and placing the guns in a duffel bag. The suspect then fled the store heading west on foot.
Through the course of the investigation, an inventory of the firearms later revealed that 17 guns were missing, all of which were 9 mm semiautomatic pistols, and they also learned that each of the guns was manufactured outside of Utah.
Officers also found blood on one of the broken display cases that later was collected and sent to the Utah State Crime Lab for analysis.
With all of the guns manufactured out of state, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was called in and the investigation was turned over to a federal special agent.
On April 26, the analysis completed at the crime lab revealed that the blood sample taken from the scene came back to an unknown man until it was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, which is a national database containing millions of DNA profiles, for comparison. Less than one month later, the DNA profile was matched to Combs.
The agent then ran a background check on Combs that revealed a prior firearms conviction. The agent also learned that one of the guns reported stolen during the burglary in St. George was recovered by Las Vegas Metro Police in May. In that case, another individual who was also a convicted felon pointed that gun at a security guard stationed at a gas station and threatened “to blow” the guard’s head off, according to the report.
On June 23, the complaint outlining the two felony charges was filed with the U.S. District Court that includes one count each of theft of firearms from a licensed dealer and felon in possession of a firearm.
The defendant remains in federal custody in Washington County.
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.
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