WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah, Oct. 10, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A man officers say refuses to give his real name has been booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility on 15 felony charges related to forgery and identity theft.
The suspect, currently identified as “John Doe,” faces preliminary charges of:
- Four counts of forgery, a third-degree felony
- Unlawful acquisition/possession/transfer of a financial card, a third-degree felony
- Nine counts of possession of a forgery writing device, a third-degree felony
- Possession of another’s identity documents, 2>100 individuals, a third-degree felony
- Possession of a controlled substance schedule I/II/analog, a class A misdemeanor
Two probable cause statements, one filed by an officer of the Washington County Corrections Department and one filed by a Hurricane City Police officer, say they each responded to a report of a suspicious person in a parking lot in a vehicle that had been running for several hours.
The Corrections officer said the two located the reported vehicle.
“I found the driver of the vehicle inside of the car sleeping. I discovered that the driver had a large amount of cash sitting on the seat of the passenger side. I asked him for a license to identify him. He gave me a license with a picture that did not match him.”
The suspect told the officer his name was Roko, but the name on the license was Rocio, the Corrections officer wrote. “Doe” was detained.
“During the preliminary search we found at least four licenses with his picture on it and different license numbers all from South Dakota. They were found to be fraudulent,” the Corrections officer’s statement says. “Methamphetamine was discovered in the vehicle which the driver told us was his. Tested positive for meth using a NIK test.”
The Hurricane City Police officer’s statement confirms the search of the vehicle, stating it was consensual, and finding the fraudulent IDs.
“With each one of those ID’s was located checks that matched the names,” the HCPD officer wrote in his statement. “Each one of those IDs had the same picture which matched the likeness of the driver of the vehicle, but had a different DL number and identifying information.
“In the search of the vehicle, we found several stacks of cash amounting to $16,680. With one of the stacks of cash we found methamphetamine, verified with a NIK test amounting to 1.7 grams. Several fraudulent government checks were found totaling over
$37,000.00. Additional credit cards verified not to be the driver.”
“He refused on several occasions to give his real name,” the police officer’s statement says.
“Doe” is being held without bail due to his perceived status as a flight risk.
