ST. GEORGE — Two suspects from Nevada were arrested following a pursuit that began near the Utah/Arizona border and ended near a golf course in St. George. The pair’s original charges stem from a $600 theft at a big-box retailer in Mesquite, Nevada on Thursday evening.
An officer in St. George was stopped near the Utah-Arizona border shortly before 5:30 p.m., on Thursday, after receiving an alert from the Mesquite Police Department to be on the lookout for black GMC Acadia with two occupants. They were suspected retail theft at Walmart.
Mesquite Police Sgt. Wyatt Oliver told St. George News that shortly before the broadcast was sent out, Nevada officers were dispatched to the theft where the suspects had reportedly stolen nearly $600 in merchandise from the retailer.
Loss prevention staff provided a detailed description of the two suspects, along with the vehicle. A Mesquite officer spotted the GMC in the parking lot of another store shortly thereafter.
Before the officer reached the parking lot, however, the suspects sped off and then continued north on I-15 towards Utah. The alert after the sighting was ultimately heard by the officer in St. George, Oliver added.
The St. George officer spotted the SUV traveling north — at nearly 100 mph — and followed the vehicle which exited at Sun River. The driver failed to stop at the stop sign and was tailgating other motorists, according to court documents filed in support of the arrests.
A second stop sign was ignored as the driver again drove towards I-15. A Utah Highway Patrol trooper joined officers soon after. When the suspects exited the interstate a second time, the UHP helicopter was called in to assist locating the suspects.
The vehicle was spotted from the air while stopping at two different gas stations. As soon as ground officers located them, the passenger jumped back into the SUV and the suspects again tried to evade law enforcement.
The GMC was spotted again on Plantations Drive, south of the Sunbrook Golf Club in St. George, where both suspects were seen fleeing from the vehicle. Minutes later, both were taken into custody by officers.
The driver was identified as 40-year-old Pedro Vargas, of Las Vegas, who allegedly admitted to taking the merchandise from the Walmart without paying for it. He told officers he continued fleeing since he was driving without a valid license. He also admitted there was marijuana in the car.
Vargas was transported and booked into jail in Washington County facing two third-degree felony counts of failing to stop or respond to command of police and one count of theft, two counts of possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license.
The passenger, identified as Angela Lynn Wanta, 38, also of Las Vegas, denied taking anything from the store, and told officers that she tried to tell the driver to stop multiple times during the pursuit.
The officer noted that on two separate occasions during the chase, Wanta was seen getting out of the SUV, which she said was to pay for fuel. That was also “two different times that she could have gotten away from the situation and failed to do so,” the officer wrote.
The passenger was arrested and booked into jail facing misdemeanor drug charges. During a background check, officers found a no-bail warrant issued out of 5th District Court for a probation violation on an unrelated case filed in March of last year.
In March 2022, Wanta was one of four out of state suspects that were arrested in connection with a string of thefts reported at multiple retailers in St. George. More than $15,000 in merchandise was stolen between four stores. Police said at the time that they had spotted the group within minutes of the final theft.
All of the property taken from the three retailers was recovered by police, along with more than $2,500 in merchandise from a fourth retailer that still had price tags.
Some still had the security sensors attached to the items.When Wanta was interviewed by police, she said she was involved in an unrelated theft at a sunglass store reported the week before.
She was later charged with felony theft and other charges following the incidents. She pleaded guilty to two third-degree felony theft charges and a misdemeanor drug offense and was placed on probation during a sentencing hearing held July 7, 2022. One month after her release from jail, she reportedly violated her probation and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
The warrant remained outstanding until her arrest on Thursday. She remains in custody on a no-bail hold issued out of 5th District Court in St. George. Following the arrests, both suspects remain in custody in Washington County without bail.
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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