WOODS CROSS, Utah, Jan. 12, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A man and a woman have been arrested after allegedly stealing mail from multiple people in Woods Cross and Bountiful.
Probable cause statements from the 2nd District Court of Farmington said Israel Tovar Mendoza, 21, and Karen Ferman, 28, were arrested Saturday.
Mendoza is facing three charges of forgery, a third-degree felony, three charges of unlawful acquisition/possession/transfer of a financial card, a third-degree felony, two charges of mail theft, a class A misdemeanor, possession of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor and use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.
Ferman is facing five charges of forgery, a third-degree felony, three charges of unlawful acquisition/possession/transfer of a financial card, a third-degree felony, two charges of mail theft, a class A misdemeanor and five charges of possession of another’s identifying documents.
The arresting officer wrote in the probable cause statements for both suspects that while conducting follow up to a mail theft case Saturday, he found a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle noted in the report and seen on video. He made contact with the owner of the vehicle, Ferman, at Motel 6 in Woods Cross.
Ferman was read her Miranda rights and was asked for consent to search her vehicle.
“Karen invited another officer and I into her motel room while she put on footwear” the statement said. “Inside the room I saw drug paraphernalia in the form of two bongs. I asked Karen if I would find anything in the vehicle, and Karen told me I would probably find marijuana, unless she smoked it all, and methamphetamine.”
During the consent search of Ferman’s vehicle, the officer located “large amounts of mail to various addresses and names, none of which belonged to Karen,” the statement said. Also found was a small baggie which contained a white powdery substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.
In the motel room, pursuant to the plain view warrant exception, the officer found a small amount of meth, three pipes, and seven checks which belonged to other people. Several of the checks had been altered to show Ferman’s name instead of the original owner of the check. Two of the seven checks belonged to victims living in Bountiful, and Bountiful Police Department retrieved two of the checks for their case.
“Additional property located during the room search were five other driver’s licenses, five other credit cards, and miscellaneous other mail documents, none of which had Karen’s name on them, all of which had different names,” said the statement.
Both suspects were transported to Davis County Jail; Ferman’s bail was set at $53,680 and Mendoza’s at $37,080.
