ST. GEORGE — A bystander’s 911 call to police to report a burglary in progress at a construction site led to the arrest of two men and the recovery of thousands of dollars in stolen property, police say.
The arrests stem from a call to emergency dispatch from a witness who reported seeing two men going through a trailer parked at a construction site near Rain Tree Street in St. George, according to charging documents filed with the court.
Officers were dispatched to the area while the caller continued providing updates as the incident was unfolding in real time. They also provided photos of the suspects and of the silver passenger car they were seen driving that provided a partial plate number to police.
The witness also reportedly said they saw one of the suspects taking items from the trailer and then loading them into his car, and officers arrived minutes later to find the trailer door open and the suspects gone.
Using information provided by the caller, investigators narrowed down the license plate number and ran a registration check on the vehicle. The owner of the car lived in Washington City at an apartment complex off of Buena Vista Drive, and authorities went in search of the suspects.
Officers say they did not see the vehicle initially, but several minutes later, the silver car pulled into the complex that matched the vehicle described by the witness. When the vehicle stopped, officers moved in and found two men inside the car. They also noticed what appeared to be heroin and methamphetamine in plain view inside the vehicle, the report says.
The two men were detained while investigators from St. George made their way to the scene near the apartment complex in Washington City.
The driver was identified as 37-year-old Jesse Douglas Salmon, and the passenger was identified as 33-year-old Christopher Perry Jorgensen, both from Washington City.
During a search of the vehicle, authorities located property that was reportedly taken from two different sites, including the trailer at the Rain Tree Street job site. The items included several rolls of wire reportedly taken from a flatbed trailer parked in the same general area.
The wire was worth an estimated $5,000 and was returned to the owner.
Police say they also recovered another $2,000 to $3,000 in property taken from the second site, as well as other items linked to recent construction site burglaries reported in the area.
Back at the apartment in Washington City, officers spoke to Salmon, who police say admitted to looking inside the trailer but denied taking anything.
Salmon was booked into jail facing three second-degree felony charges, including two counts of theft and one count of burglary. These charges were enhanced due to prior convictions in cases involving similar crimes, the report states. He also faces two third-degree felony drug charges and a misdemeanor paraphernalia charge.
Jorgensen also was arrested and booked into jail facing a felony drug charge, as well as two active warrants that were found during a background check conducted at the scene.
A statement from the St. George Police Department said the successful outcome was the result of “great teamwork” between the citizen that stepped in to assist and the law enforcement agencies involved.
The incident is still under investigation and the total value of the property recovered at the scene in Washington City is still being determined.
Following the arrest, both men were released from custody later that same day.
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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