Man identifies roommate as possible business burglar, calls police

WASHINGTON CITY — A Washington City man was arrested Monday night after his roommate allegedly recognized remote controlled items he had brought home as items that had been reported stolen Saturday during a St. George business burglary.

The shelves at Sky RC were left almost completely empty after the business was burglarized, St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Sky RC Facebook page, St. George News
The shelves at Sky RC were left almost completely empty after the business was burglarized, St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Sky RC Facebook page, St. George News

Police responded to a report of a business burglary at Sky RC located at 368 E. St. George Boulevard Saturday, according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest.

Officers arrived and located damage to a door and a window of the business, the report stated. The business owner reported $5,300 worth of missing items from the business and provided a detailed list and photos of those items.

“The items sold by the business are specialty remote control items that are not common to any other business in the area,” the arresting officer wrote in the statement.

It wasn’t difficult to sense the business owner’s frustration Monday in a post on Sky RC’s Facebook page:

For the person that robbed my store last weekend I have one question for you. Would you like my home address so you can come take the food out of my fridge that my kids eat. And while your at it might as well grab their clothes to.

Nicholas Lee Miller, of Washington, Utah, booking photo posted Feb. 22, 2016 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News
Nicholas Lee Miller, of Washington, Utah, booking photo posted Feb. 22, 2016 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

At around 9 p.m. Monday, officers responded to a Washington City residence where a friend of the business owner reported his roommate had come home with numerous remote controlled vehicles that fit the description of those stolen from the business, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Washington City Police Department in support of Miller’s charges.

The homeowner gave officers permission to enter the home, according to court documents, and showed them to the room of his roommate, identified as 30-year-old Nicholas Lee Miller.

Police placed Miller in handcuffs and detained him for questioning.

“He claimed the remote control items were given to him by a friend of a friend,” the officer wrote.

According to the documents, while officers were checking Lee’s pockets for weapons, they located a 3-inch pocket knife, along with a glass pipe with a white crystalline substance in the bowl and stem, tinfoil with a black tar substance inside and a black tube. Miller allegedly admitted the substances were methamphetamine and heroin.

Some of the items reported stolen from Sky RC during a business burglary, St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Sky RC Facebook page, St. George News
Some of the items reported stolen from Sky RC during a business burglary, St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2016 | Photo courtesy of Sky RC Facebook page, St. George News

Miller gave officers permission to search his bedroom and to collect the remote controlled items, the documents stated. Officers subsequently recovered $1,080 worth of stolen remote controlled items and accessories from Miller’s room.

Miller was arrested and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.

He was charged with four third-degree felonies for theft and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and drug possession, along with a class B misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Miller appeared in 5th District Court Tuesday before Judge G. Michael Westfall, who set Miller’s bail for release pending trial at $10,000. Miller was found indigent by the court and will be represented by court-appointed attorney Ariel Taylor.

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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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

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1 Comment

  • sagemoon February 26, 2016 at 10:33 am

    Dang tweeker/junkie.

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