Skate shop thief strikes, alarm sounds, camera records, police move in

Stock image | St. George News

ST. GEORGE — An alleged thief didn’t get far after shattering the front door of a skateboard shop in St. George and helping himself to merchandise inside. Police caught up to the alleged burglar an hour after the break-in and arrested him on theft-related charges.

Malachi Crenshaw Ball-Pryor, of St. George, Utah, booking photo posted April 24, 2017 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

At approximately 4:30 a.m. Monday, officers responded to an alarm at Lip Trix located at 105 N. 500 East, according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest.

“When I arrived, I saw the main entrance door glass was broken,” the arresting officer wrote in a sworn statement.

The owner of the shop also arrived on scene subsequent to the alarm, according to the statement.

Upon viewing video surveillance footage of the incident, officers recognized the intruder from a previous incident and were able to positively identify him as 18-year-old Malachi Crenshaw Ball-Pryor, the report stated.

“(Ball-Pryor) was seen breaking the glass with a large rock,” the officer wrote in the statement, “entering the store and taking two skateboards, grip tape and a multi-tool used for skateboards.”

Approximately an hour after the burglary occurred, police located Ball-Pryor in front of the Taco Bell fast food restaurant on St. George Boulevard, according to the statement.

Police further located the stolen property inside Ball-Pryor’s motel room located directly across the street from Lip Trix, the report stated.

Ball-Pryor was arrested and transported to the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.

The Washington County Attorney’s Office filed an information in 5th District Court accusing Ball-Pryor of third-degree felony burglary; a class A misdemeanor count of criminal mischief; and two class B misdemeanor counts of theft and possession of a controlled substance.

As this report is published, Ball-Pryor remains in police custody, according to booking information. He is scheduled to appear before Judge John Walton in 5th District Court on May 1.

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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Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

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6 Comments

  • NickDanger April 25, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    Someone needs to find out if this kid is competent enough to stand trial.

  • Larry April 26, 2017 at 8:34 am

    Found him “in front of Taco Bell”…So I guess we must assume he was “Allegedly” making a run for the boarder?

  • Harold S. April 26, 2017 at 12:03 pm

    Good police work S.G.P.D. glad to see you caught this guy, recovered the stolen property and no one got hurt. Way to go!!! And good job to the shop owner for installing cameras which assisted the S.G.P.D. in the identification and arrest of the suspect. Folks this is how it works when everyone all works together. Police can’t do it alone, shop owners can do it alone. We need to all work together and do our part in making our community a GREAT place to live and work. Great story S.G. News!!!

    • indy-vfr April 26, 2017 at 1:47 pm

      In STG it seems as though they’re back out on the street pretty quickly

  • liliadudas April 27, 2017 at 4:04 pm

    I demand to see the camera footage..

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