ST. GEORGE — A suspect with an extensive criminal history dating back more than two decades faces a felony theft charge after officers reportedly located some stolen property where the suspect said he hid it — inside a horse trailer.
Santa Clara-Ivins Police responded April 10 to reports of two residential burglaries, the first on East Coral Autumn Lane, followed by a second on East Crimson Flare Lane in Ivins.
According to charging documents filed with the courts, while processing the scene on East Coral Autumn Lane, officers reviewed security footage that showed a white Ford Ranger pickup truck pull up to the residence the previous day at about 9 a.m., and as the suspect approached the residence, he looked up at the video camera and then entered the home.
The homeowner told police the suspect appeared to have targeted electrical equipment, as well as lighting and plumbing fixtures. Also missing were four large televisions with a combined value of more than $12,500.
Officers learned that following the break-in, the televisions, still in the original boxes, reportedly were placed in a storage unit in Ivins, and two days later, the items were loaded into a vehicle registered to Kirk Wilkinson Johnson, 51.
In the meantime, Johnson was asked to report to the Adult Probation and Parole office on Tuesday afternoon to check in, and during a search, agents found a notebook listing two .40-caliber firearms, a Smithfield handgun and a Smith and Wesson.
While searching the suspect’s vehicle, agents found texts they suspected were related to drug sales, along with drug paraphernalia that tested positive for methamphetamine, as well as other evidence, police say.
Johnson was booked into jail facing second-degree felony counts of drug distribution and one count of drug possession, a third-degree felony.
With the suspect in custody on drug distribution charges, officers working the burglaries in Santa Clara responded to the jail to interview the suspect. Johnson told officers he took the televisions to a home on West Santa Clara Drive and said “he knew the televisions were stolen property,” the officer noted.
When officers arrived at the home on Santa Clara Drive, they noticed a horse trailer parked in the driveway. Due to the trailer’s open design, officers could see a large box and an LG television sitting inside the trailer.
The home from where the property allegedly was recovered was rented by Kevin Anthony Telles, 53, who was on probation with Adult Probation and Parole.
As the search continued at the residence, officers found two televisions matching the descriptions of the items reportedly taken during the break-in, police say, bringing the total to three televisions that were recovered from the residence. Officers also recovered the fourth flat screen that Telles had planned to sell to a neighbor for $700.
Also inside the residence detectives recovered suspected marijuana and paraphernalia, as well as a 12-gauge shotgun found in Telles’s bedroom – a weapon that police say the suspect was prohibited from possessing following a 2012 felony conviction.
Following the search, Telles was arrested Wednesday and booked into jail in Washington County facing second-degree felony theft by receiving stolen property and a third-degree felony firearms charge. He also faces two misdemeanors for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and is being held without bail.
Johnson’s criminal history includes multiple arrests and convictions dating back to 2003, including convictions for drug distribution, theft, obstruction and other offenses. Following the recovery of the property, the Santa Clara-Ivins Police detective submitted a third-degree felony count of theft by receiving stolen property to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review.
The investigation into the burglaries continues and Johnson remains in custody on a no-bail hold requested by Adult Probation and Parole. The property recovered from the residence and horse trailer was subsequently returned to the rightful owner.
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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