ST. GEORGE —An officer patrolling areas hit by a rash of business break-ins interrupted a burglary in progress in Hurricane late in the night on Dec. 7, leading to the recovery of stolen property and charges filed against two suspects already in jail on unrelated charges.
Jim Kyle Lefevre, 37, of Hurricane faces multiple charges filed in two separate cases including four third-degree felony charges with one count each of burglary, theft, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a forgery device.
He also faces one count each of providing false information to a peace officer, altering the serial number on a pistol, displaying a vehicle plate on an incorrect vehicle and having no insurance.
According to court documents, the suspect was initially arrested during a traffic stop on Dec. 7, after an officer ran the license plate on a vehicle that came back showing no record, which led to a suspicion that the license plates on the vehicle may have been switched to obscure evidence that the car was stolen.
The officer conducted a traffic stop near W. 600 North in Hurricane, which is when the driver reportedly told police he had no insurance on the car. The officer ran a registration check that revealed the car had a different license plate than what was listed on the registration, but the vehicle identification number was a match. The officer called for backup and prepared the car for impound.
During an inventory of the car, police say they located a handgun in the glovebox that had the serial number scratched off, which Lefevre initially said was not his. He then told police he didn’t know the gun was in the car. Later, police say Lefevre said someone had left the gun in the vehicle weeks earlier and when asked, he admitted to being a convicted felon and was prohibited from possessing a gun.
Lefevre was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility on gun and theft charges. While en route, the report states that Lefevre told the officer he could not breathe, at which point he was evaluated and then cleared by emergency medics and the trip to jail resumed.
Minutes later, the suspect told police that his chest hurt, and then he stopped responding to the officer’s questions. The suspect was then transported to the hospital and was cleared by medical staff shortly thereafter and was taken to jail without further incident.
During a search of the suspect, officers recovered three $100 bills that allegedly were counterfeit. He was booked into jail on the firearms charge, along with the stolen vehicle and forgery offense.
Lefevre was also a suspect in a burglary that took place at a business in Hurricane on Nov. 30, an incident that was discovered by an officer during a routine patrol shortly before 11 p.m., authorities say.
During that late-night canvass, the officer was driving through an area where a late-night burglary had recently been reported, according to charging documents filed with 5th District Court.
As the officer neared the business, which was closed at the time, he noticed it was a business that was hit with a string of recent burglaries and checked the business.
The officer also spotted a vehicle parked near the main building and recognized it from a traffic stop hours earlier. The driver, later identified as Lefevre, was traveling through a “high crime area” of Hurricane and told the officer he was on his way to pick up a friend, Anton Pleshe. At that point, the traffic stop ended and the driver went on his way.
Back at the scene of the suspicious vehicle, the officer determined that the car was unoccupied and noticed there were several cell phones on the seat.
The officer also noticed there were gloves, power tools and various accessories inside the car, at which point the officer “immediately suspected that Kyle was in the area with Anton burglarizing the business,” he noted in the report.
When a search of the business turned up nothing, officers noticed a trailer parked in a gated area behind the building with the back ramp that was down, “which is not normal for this business,” the officer wrote. The owners of the business were notified and responded to the scene where they found several items missing from the trailer, including a portable battery charger with six power tool batteries on it, along with an impact driver power tool that also belonged to the business.
The owners “immediately” recognized the items that were found in the suspect’s vehicle as those taken from the trailer. Armed with a search warrant, officers recovered multiple items that were suspected as stolen, including the tools that were missing from the trailer.
While investigating the business burglary, officers spoke to the suspect over the phone who told police that his vehicle had been stolen hours before it was found abandoned near the business on the night of Nov. 30 and said that after the traffic stop, he went to pick up his friend, identified as 42-year-old Anton J. Pleshe, and the two stopped at a store in Hurricane to get a drink. When they left the store, he said, he realized that his car had been stolen.
A few days after the phone call, the suspect was arrested during the traffic stop near 6300 West, and when detectives learned that Lefevre was in custody, they went to the jail to speak to the suspect.
During the interview with police, the suspect “eventually admitted” that he and Pleshe were at the business late at night on Nov. 30, the officer noted, and he also confirmed that both he and Pleshe had run and hid behind a block wall as soon as they spotted the officer stop near the business, and just as police suspected, the burglary in progress was interrupted by the patrol officer’s arrival.
The suspect went on to tell officers it was Pleshe who allegedly cut the lock off the trailer with a pair of bolt cutters to gain entry, and once inside, the suspect took the tools and other items, an account that was inconsistent with the video footage later recovered by police that showed two men matching the description of the suspects exiting the car and then walking in the direction of the trailer.
“The driver’s clothing resembled exactly what I observed Kyle wearing during the traffic stop” the officer wrote. “And the passenger’s approximate height and weight and gender was consistent with Anton.”
During a search of Lefevre’s cell phone, investigators recovered messages sent between the two suspects around the time of the trailer burglary, including messages directly related to the “ransacking” of Lefevre’s vehicle after they had run from the scene of the burglary.
The evidence also suggested both men “conspired to commit this crime together,” police say.
Investigators also determined that Lefevre also gave a false statement by telling police his vehicle was stolen, when in fact, investigators say, it was not.
Officers caught up with Pleshe on Saturday and he initially told authorities he had stayed home that night and denied taking any part in the burglary, an account that changed while he was being transported to jail. Police say he admitted to trespassing on the property where the business was located.
Pleshe was booked into jail facing one count each of burglary and theft, each a third-degree felony, as well as one misdemeanor count of conspiracy for allegedly working in concert with Lefevre during the incident.
Officers mentioned that both men were known to authorities and that Lefevre had an extensive criminal history, which was confirmed during a review of court records that consisted of nearly 40 criminal cases and convictions since 2000, including 11 that were filed during this year alone. Pleshe’s criminal history included 22 cases and convictions that were filed over a 20-year period.
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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