ST. GEORGE —A suspect that has spent the last four years in and out of prison was arrested Tuesday following an investigation into an incident in which a 911 hang-up call weeks before led officers to a residence in Hurricane where police say the suspect entered through a sliding door in the middle of the night.
The incident was reported on Oct. 31, when officers were dispatched to a residence in Hurricane after the St. George Communications Center received a hang up call initially reporting a break-in involving a suspect that had already fled the area in a vehicle by the time officers arrived.
According to charging documents filed in 5th District Court, officers responded to the residence while patrol began circulating the area in search of the suspect.
In the meantime, officers at the scene learned that earlier that morning, the homeowner was in the bathroom when she heard the sliding door open, and within seconds said she encountered a man inside of her home asking her if she knew who he was.
The complainant said she knew the suspect by his first name, “Saxon,” who she said told her that he “worked for the CIA and the FBI,” and the suspect was later identified as a Toquerville man, 36-year-old Saxon Xayvier Stoker, the officer noted in the report.
When the caller attempted to move past the man, police say Stoker reportedly held a black handgun at the woman to stop her from leaving the bathroom, which is also where the 911 call was made from while he was still inside of the residence.
Officers also learned of a previous encounter with Stoker several days prior, when the reporting party told police that the man and his girlfriend entered their home and “started to throw things around the house,” the report states.
When the resident’s dog became aggressive, Stoker told the homeowner to get the dog away from him, and then the trio started arguing, which is when the caller’s husband came out and intervened.
“That’s when Saxon came up behind him and pulled a knife on the victim’s husband and told him not to move,” the officer wrote.
Officers caught up with Stoker on Tuesday. He was arrested and booked into jail facing first-degree felony aggravated assault and aggravated burglary, a second-degree felony.
Officers completed a public safety assessment that was submitted to the court at that time of the arrest that flagged Stoker as one who had an elevated risk of committing a violent crime based on the offense, as well as a criminal history that included prior felony convictions – one of which resulted in a prison sentence.
The case involved an aggravated assault charge that was filed in 2018 involving an incident reported shortly before 4 a.m. on Aug. 12 of that year at a home in LaVerkin, where a verbal altercation between the homeowner and Stoker escalated into violence, charging documents say.
Officers arrived to find the homeowner with lacerations to his face and hands that were reportedly caused by a knife, based on the nature of the injuries. The caller was then transported to St. George Regional Medical Center, police say, where he was taken into surgery shortly after arrival to repair the damage.
Shortly thereafter, officers located Stoker at a home in Hurricane and he was arrested and later charged with third-degree felony aggravated assault.
The following month, Stoker pleaded guilty to the charge and he was sentenced to serve 0-5 years in Utah State Prison.
In December 2020, Stoker was involved in a pursuit with officers in Hurricane, and he was arrested and charged with felony evading and also had a warrant issued by the Board of Pardons and Parole.
He was booked into jail on both charges and served a second prison sentence at Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison until February of this year when he was released to a halfway house. The suspect also spent several months in the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas in 2021, and a search of Utah Department of Corrections records indicate the defendant is currently in custody in Washington County.
Stoker remains in custody without bail while the charges are under review at the Washington County Attorney’s Office.
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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