CEDAR CITY — A man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing seven semitractor tire rims from a business and stashing them in a storage unit nearby.
Noel K. Frischknecht, 57, was booked into Iron County Jail shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday on suspicion of theft between $1,500 and $4,999, a third-degree felony.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, Cedar City Police officers were responding to a reported theft of semi truck rims earlier that morning in the area between Coal Creek Road and Industrial Road in Cedar City, when they saw Frischknecht riding a bicycle out of a storage unit rental business.
A witness reportedly told police the same man had been seen driving a small SUV that was pulling a trailer loaded with the tire rims, down a dead-end street toward the storage business.
Officers then accompanied Frischknecht back onto the storage rental property, where his vehicle and trailer were located.
“The male later identified as Noel voluntarily opened the storage unit, where no rims were found,” the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit, adding, “He stated he had no idea what we were talking about.”
However, officers checked the name of the individual to whom the unit had been rented and learned that they also had a second unit within the same complex.
After further questioning, Frischknecht eventually admitted to officers that the rims were in the other unit.
After obtaining the key from Frischknecht, police opened the second unit and could see the seven rims, valued at approximately $4,000, in plain sight of the front door. The officers then placed Frischknecht in handcuffs and transported him to jail.
Tuesday’s incident came less than three weeks after Frischknecht was arrested by Cedar City Police during a traffic stop on north Main Street the morning of Aug. 22.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of that arrest, Frischknecht was pulled over on suspicion of not having valid insurance for the vehicle he was driving, which was registered to him. During the traffic stop, police reportedly found a jar containing marijuana in the vehicle’s center console, along with a baggie tucked inside a cigarette pack, which contained a white crystalline substance that later tested positive for methamphetamine.
According to that affidavit, Frischknecht was found to have multiple arrest warrants, along with a suspended driver’s license out of California.
Frischknecht was subsequently booked into Iron County Jail on suspicion of multiple misdemeanor counts, including possession of drugs and paraphernalia, plus driving on a suspended license and without insurance.
Frischknecht stayed in jail until he posted bail in the form of a $3,000 bond on Sept. 5. A preliminary hearing for that case has been scheduled for Sept. 19 before 5th District Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen.
Frischknecht, who was out on bail and wearing an ankle monitor at the time of Tuesday’s arrest, is currently being held without bail in Iron County Jail. As of Wednesday, he has not yet made his initial court appearance in the tire rim theft case.
This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials 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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