ST. GEORGE — A woman is in jail facing more than a dozen felony charges following a string of vehicle burglaries reported in Washington City and Santa Clara, during which several credit cards were stolen and then used to charge thousands of dollars in merchandise.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, shortly after 2:30 a.m. Friday an officer in Washington City approached two individuals walking along Telegraph, one of whom matched the description of a suspect wanted in connection with a recent vehicle burglary reported in the area of 100 North near 290 West.
The officer noted the woman was wearing a pair of shoes that matched those being worn by the suspect in the video surveillance footage captured at the time of the incident.
While speaking with the suspect, later identified as 24-year-old Erin Irene Wyson, police inquired about the vehicle burglary, which is when Wyson allegedly said she had taken a number of items out of a black vehicle parked at the Washington City Community Center.
“This was not the vehicle I was referring to,” the officer noted in his report, “but she continued.”
The officer wrote that Wyson went on to say she had taken several bank cards, cash and a cell phone charger from the black car in question, items officers later recovered during a search of her purse, as well as a seventh bank card that turned out to be connected with an unrelated car burglary.
Officers contacted the individual listed on the bank cards, who said his wallet had been in the middle console of his girlfriend’s vehicle, a dark blue sedan that was broken into while parked near the community center in Washington City.
Washington City Police Chief Jason Williams told St. George News the car burglary at the community center took place either on the night of Feb. 2 or during the early morning hours of Feb. 3.
The man also told police he had received several notifications from the bank advising that his cards had been used at a number of retailers, including Domino’s Pizza, Walmart, Best Buy and Skins.
Officers also noted locating a check that did not belong to Wyson but that she had reportedly signed the back of to endorse.
Officers also recovered several items of clothing that still had the tags on them, including a set of underwear that the suspect allegedly admitted were in a parcel she took from the parking lot of the post office and a swimsuit that had been one of the parcels reported as stolen from a mailbox.
The suspect was also asked about an instant camera officers found amid her possessions, which the report states she “eventually” admitted to purchasing at Walmart using one of the stolen credit cards.
Wyson was arrested and booked into jail in Washington County facing seven counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card, four counts of unlawful use of a financial card and two counts of mail theft, each a third-degree felony.
Wyson also faces three misdemeanor charges, including two counts of vehicle burglary and one count of theft. When the case was filed on Monday, the Washington County Attorney’s Office also added four misdemeanor counts of knowingly using a false financial card for goods-services.
Five days before the arrest in Washington City, officers in Santa Clara were tasked with investigating a report of a vehicle burglary that took place Jan. 31. In that case, the reporting party told officers his car was broken into and his wallet was stolen with three credit cards inside. The caller also said the cards were then used to make more than $3,300 in purchases.
During Wyson’s arrest, officers in Washington City reached out to authorities in Santa Clara advising they were still with the suspect making the arrest, which is when they began going through Wyson’s cell phone and found photos taken of several credit cards, some of which belonged to the victim of the car burglary reported in Santa Clara.
When confronted about the credit cards in the Santa Clara case, Wyson reportedly told officers she had found the wallet on the ground but that she threw them away after she attempted to use the cards to purchase fast food and the cards were declined.
With the suspect in jail, officers with the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department submitted five charges to the Washington County Attorney’s Office that were filed on Monday that include three counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card and one count of knowingly using false financial card for goods-services, each a third-degree felony, as well as one misdemeanor count of vehicle burglary.
In all, 13 felony and nine misdemeanor charges were filed against the suspect between the two cases.
The defendant made an initial appearance on both cases on Monday and is scheduled to return to court for a bail reduction hearing on Thursday.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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