BOUNTIFUL, Utah, Aug. 19, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A 57-year-old man has been booked into the Davis County Jail after he allegedly used a truck to back into the front doors of the Bountiful Slim Olson’s gas station, then loaded an ATM into the truck bed and drove away.
Eddie Garza was booked Friday for investigation of:
- Two counts of criminal mischief, loss greater than $5,000, a second-degree felony
- Two counts of theft, value greater than $5,000, a second-degree felony
- Two counts of burglary, a third-degree felony
The crimes are associated with two similar incidents, one on Aug. 12, and one on June 8 of this year. Garza was identified as a suspect in the earlier incident after his truck and BMW were identified in connection with the Aug. 12 incident.
On Aug. 12, a Saturday, Bountiful City police were alerted at about 3:03 a.m. that “a black truck (furthermore referred to as BT) was seen by a witness, as well as on video surveillance, repeatedly backing the vehicle into the front doors of the business, Slim Olson’s,” located at 2301 S. Main St., Bountiful.
“A male was then seen by the witness stealing the ATM from Slim Olson’s and placing it into the bed of the BT. The BT then took off northbound on Highway 89, with the ATM in the bed of the vehicle,” says a probable cause statement filed by an officer of the Bountiful City Police Department.
“At approximately 500 West and Hwy 89, the ATM fell out of the bed of the BT and was found in the middle of the road by responding patrol officers.”
At about 3:11 a.m., the black truck was seen pulling into the parking lot of EV Motors, located at 612 W. 800 South, Woods Cross, Garza’s probable cause statement says.
“The BT was left running in that parking lot, and a male jumped out of the vehicle and ran across the street to a black BMW sedan (furthermore referred to as BMW) that was waiting. At 0554 hours, the same BMW is seen waiting in close proximity to the still running BT. At approximately 0606 hours, a male is seen approaching the black BMW, and appears to speak with the driver. The male is then seen approaching the BT on foot, and later drives away in the BT headed eastbound on 800 South. The BMW leaves the area a short while later.”
The BMW was linked to an ATM theft and burglary at a Bountiful Sinclair station on June 8. The black truck also was linked to an Aug. 8 ATM theft case in Magna.
“Using surveillance footage, the male suspect was identified in a Taylorsville case, by a Taylorsville detective for a vehicle and ATM theft, as Eddie Garza,” his probable cause statement says.
“Surveillance on Eddie’s house on Aug. 17th, 2023 located the BT that was seen on surveillance footage in the Bountiful Case, the Centerville case, as well as the Magna case. The truck parked outside of the residence has the same identifying features as BT. … Multiple detectives across multiple jurisdictions are all investigating cases involving the truck.”
On Friday, surveillance was conducted on Garza’s residence, and he was observed walking to a nearby garage he rents. The black truck and BMW were found inside the garage, as was Garza, the police statement says.
“At that time investigators approached the garage, Eddie was sitting in the driver’s seat of the black BMW, and safely took Eddie into custody. During a search warrant of the house, garages, and two vehicles many items were collected that link Eddie to the ATM thefts, burglaries, and criminal mischief.”
Garza was ordered to be held without bail.
