ST. GEORGE — A Leeds man with a criminal history was back in jail Wednesday after he was arrested during a late-night traffic stop in Hurricane after police said the officer discovered the pickup truck the suspect was driving was stolen.
A patrol officer working on the east side of Hurricane shortly after midnight came across a blue Dodge Ram pickup truck and ran a registration check on the vehicle.
When the records check returned with an active arrest warrant issued on the driver, 39-year-old Robert Edward Yurek, the officer initiated a traffic stop near the Lin’s Market parking lot on State Street, according to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest.
Through the course of the investigation, the officer was notified by emergency dispatch that the Dodge pickup truck had been reported as stolen out of the Santa Clara-Ivins area, which was also confirmed during a check of the National Crime Information Computer.
The officer also found an active felony warrant issued out of 5th District Court in connection with a fraud case that was filed on June 9. That warrant followed an investigation into a call received by emergency dispatch from an individual in April who was reporting what appeared to be fraudulent inquiries on his credit report.
The caller also told officers that when he checked his credit report, he noticed suspicious activity and was provided a fraud packet to fill out so that officers could initiate an investigation into the claims.
Two days later, officers went through the documents and noticed multiple inquiries connected to an individual in Las Vegas, Nevada, who was later identified as Yurek, and also found multiple addresses listed for the suspect, including a residence in Dammeron Valley.
Through the course of the investigation, officers said they determined that the defendant opened at least five credit accounts using someone else’s name. He was later charged with third-degree felony identity fraud and the case is still moving through the courts.
Officers also discovered that Yurek has a criminal history dating back more than a decade, including another fraud case filed in 2011 involving a prescription fraud report out of Washington City. In that case, officers said Yurek filled at least 11 fraudulent prescriptions under his own name, but with two different DEA numbers. According to the report, the suspect also reportedly called in a prescription under a family member’s name.
Officers also contacted the two Ohio-based physicians whose DEA numbers the suspect reportedly used, and both told authorities that Yurek was not authorized to use any of their information and they also denied ever writing a prescription for the suspect.
The report states that officers went to Purgatory Correctional Facility to speak to the suspect, who was in custody on an unrelated case at the time, and advised the suspect that four charges – 2 counts of fraud to obtain a prescription and 2 counts of identity theft were being filed against him. He entered the drug court program, which he successfully completed in 2014, and the charges were dismissed and the case closed.
Yurek was arrested following Wednesday’s traffic stop, and he was booked into jail on the warrant. On Thursday, he was formally charged with second-degree felony vehicle theft remains in custody without bail at the writing of this report.
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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