IRON COUNTY, Utah, March 5, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A suspect allegedly entered an apartment in Iron County and threatened a man with a machete.
A probable cause statement from the 5th District Court of Cedar City said Carl Albert Graves, 49, is facing charges of:
- Burglary of a dwelling, a second-degree felony
- Aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Possession of a controlled substance, schedule I or II, a class A misdemeanor
- Obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor
Officers were called to an address in Cedar City on Wednesday morning on reports of an assault that had just occurred involving a machete, the statement said.
“I made contact with the victim who stated he was sitting on his couch of his apartment when Carl Graves pushed open his door and entered into the apartment a few feet,” the statement said. “The victim stated the door was not latched shut but slightly open. The victim jumped up asking Carl what he was doing and noticed a machete in his hand.”
The victim told police Graves accused him of hanging out with his wife and challenged him to a fight, the statement said.
“The victim told Carl he was going to call the police and Carl retreated,” the statement said “The victim stated Carl only moments later returned without the machete and challenged the victim into coming down to the parking lot and ‘handling it like men.’ The victim told Carl to leave and at this point was standing on the balcony of the apartments.”
The victim stated he put his hands up in a defensive position and continued to tell Graves to leave; the suspect swung, hitting the victim in the side of the head and causing a minor injury to his ear.
After being taken into custody and read his Miranda rights, Graves told officials the victim came to his apartment the night before and was calling him vulgar names. Graves stated he went into his apartment, called police, and stayed away.
“Carl stated this morning he went to go talk to the victim about the incident that occurred the night before,” the statement said. “When I asked Carl why he took a machete up with him he stated he was going to ask the victim to sharpen it for him. Carl stated he did tell the victim to come to the parking lot so they could ‘handle it like men’ but stated he never punched the victim.”
A witness stated Graves was pacing around before the incident occurred and made several comments of how he was going to “go up and kick the victim’s a–,” the statement said.
Later that same day, the officer was reviewing video for report purposes.
“In the video, when I placed Carl into my prisoner transport Carl reached down his pants and pulled out a baggie and continued to put it into his mouth and chewed on it,” the statement said. “Carl spat out a small piece of plastic into the corner of the transport and spat out the larger baggie. I transported Carl to the hospital for a medical clearance from the assault and as I exited my vehicle Carl quickly put the baggie back into his mouth and swallowed it.”
The baggie contained methamphetamine, the statement said.
Graves was on parole at the time of the incident.
He was transported to Iron County Jail, where he is being held without bail.
