ST. GEORGE — An unrelated property damage call in Washington City Tuesday resulted in the recovery of a vehicle reportedly stolen out of Nevada, after officers were handed a suspicious bill of sale and a convoluted story to go along with it.
A patrol officer was following up on a property damage call and arrived at what was supposed to be a residence, but instead turned out to be a rural area off a dirt road near a cow pasture, according to charging documents filed in 5th District Court.
Officers began a canvass of the area and found a vehicle parked in front of one of the homes located in the general area of where the property damage call had originated from.
Washington City Police Chief Jason Williams told St. George News that officers were out there on an unrelated call, but when they got out there they could not speak to the reporting party because the address did not check out.
Officers decided to run a registration check on the cars parked in the neighborhood to see if they could find the complainant that way, which is when they came upon the Hyundai parked in front of one of the residences.
When the registration came back, officers learned the Hyundai was reported as stolen out of Nevada, Williams said, which is when they knocked on the door to speak to the person who was driving the car.
After knocking for several minutes, a man came to the door and told officers that the person they were asking for did not live there, and when officer asked who the Hyundai belonged to, the man it belonged to his son who was inside sleeping.
Minutes later, officers spoke to the son, 34-year-old Robert Klint Adams, who told police he owned the car and provided a bill of sale that was issued in his name out of Utah.
Officers learned after running a records check on Adams that he had three active warrants for his arrest and took him into custody.
The suspect explained to officers he had purchased the vehicle from a private party in Las Vegas using an app, and said the temporary plate that appeared to be issued out of Utah was provided by the seller at the time he purchased the car.
Adams went on to say he traded his own vehicle as partial payment for the Hyundai, and told officers he gave the man cash to complete the deal. The seller gave Adams the temporary tag the Nevada man had obtained for the car that was traded in exchange for the Hyundai. Adams said he tried to register the Hyundai, but was unable to without a valid driver’s license.
Police also say that Adams put the temporary tag on the car knowing it was false, since it supposedly belonged to the car he used as a trade to the man in Nevada.
When officers inspected the temporary tag further, however, they noticed it did not match the make and model of the vehicle the suspect used as a trade, and it also listed a female owner’s name, not the name of the man in Nevada.
When Adams was confronted regarding the discrepancy, Adams reportedly told officers it was the seller’s girlfriend that was listed as the owner.
That would mean, the officer noted, that Adams would have had to have purchased a vehicle from a man when the car’s title was in a woman’s name, and somehow the seller was able to provide Adams with a temporary tag from a dealer – when the information on the tag did not match either vehicle – not the car Adams said he used as a trade-in, nor did it match the Hyundai that Adams purchased.
The officer responded by telling Adams that the transaction did not make any sense. – to have purchased a vehicle from a man when the car’s title was in a woman’s name. Then somehow the seller was able to provide Adams with a temporary tag from a dealer the didn’t match either vehicle; the car the suspect said he used as a trade-in, or the car Adams purchased.
“I explained to Robert it didn’t make any sense,” the officer wrote.
When asked about the vehicle information listed on the temp tag, Adams responded by saying did not know what was listed, since he never read it.
Adams was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing multiple charges, including one second-degree felony count of possession of a stolen vehicle and a third-degree felony count for knowingly placing a forged or altered license plate on the car. He also faces misdemeanor paraphernalia charge after officers found a broken glass pipe while taking an inventory of the vehicle prior to impound.
Adams was also booked on a misdemeanor theft by receiving charge, after officers found the license plates issued out of Nevada that were inside of the car that belonged on the Hyundai. He was also booked on the warrants issued out of Washington County, as well as a warrant issued out of American Fork on a theft case filed in August.
The Washington City officer’s request for Adams to be held without bail was approved by an order signed by District Judge John J. Walton and Adams remains in custody on a no bail hold.
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