EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah, Jan. 8, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Law enforcement officers made arrests in an overnight crime binge involving the burglaries of ten LDS churches in Eagle Mountain.
The break-ins came the night of Sept. 23 and into the next early morning, with entrances and bishop’s office doors forcibly breached.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 20-year-old South Jordan man Friday, according to court documents, now charged with 19 felonies and five misdemeanors.
Only four of the churches reported anything missing, mostly donation slips with money attached, all small amounts, the documents say, and in one church house computer equipment and a small safe. But damages to the doorways amounted to just short of $18,000, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in 4th District Court for Lee Pierce Baker.
Investigators got a break in the case when they noticed Salt Lake County had several similar burglaries and a suspect in custody who had confessed to the Eagle Mountain capers, and even turned over the small safe taken in one of the break-ins. Meeting with the Salt Lake suspect and his lawyer, according to the court filings, he said he and Lee Pierce Baker committed all 10, and that Baker knew the area and drove them to the sites.
Search warrants were obtained for Baker’s residence and phone, the phone tracking matching him to the Eagle Mountain locations. Post-Miranda “Baker admitted to breaking into some of the churches but does not remember all of them” according to the affidavit. The search of his home revealed only one item stolen from the churches, which was not specified.
Baker is also suspected in several dozen other burglaries in Salt Lake County and Lehi, according to the charging documents. Phone messages to friends from Baker said “police were on to him” and he planned to flee to Texas.
