TAYLORSVILLE, UTAH – September 26, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – Unified Police detectives have arrested a man wanted in a string of vending machine burglaries throughout Utah and surrounding states.
Unified Police Department (UPD) arrested 31-year-old Jimmy Jack Olsen at 2598 West 4700 South in Taylorsville Friday night at 10:35 p.m. Olsen is wanted for the vandalism and theft of vending machines in a number of states.
A UPD Sergeant observed a vehicle that appeared to be disabled, and as the sergeant approached the two individuals walking away from the vehicle, he recognized the male as Olsen. The other individual was Olsen’s wife.
The two were taken into custody. After being interviewed, Olsen was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on his arrest warrant. Olsen’s wife was interviewed and released.
According to Unified Police Lt. Lex Bell, the owners of a company that owns the vending machines discovered a serial burglar has been targeting specific machines in a variety of different stores since mid-August.
The games, owned by National Entertainment Network, are placed at the entrances of the stores and nearly 40 stores have filed reports about vandalized machines. In all the cases the money was stolen from the internal safe inside the machines.
The cost of damage and revenue loss to the vending company is estimated to be more than $33,000.
Unified Police Detectives and National Entertainment Network loss prevention discovered all of the crimes appear to be linked to the same person, but there maybe others involved. “There are many surveillance photos that show him breaking into the various machines,” said Bell.
Any information related to the specifics of the vending machine thefts will be referred to the Utah Attorney General’s Office which is handling the prosecution of these thefts.
