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SALT LAKE CITY — We have a somewhat clearer picture Friday of Anthony Mayhew, the man who was shot fatally Thursday night after saying he had a bomb at the Gallivan Center TRAX station.
Mayhew was very deceptive, according to his neighbors, and the court records back it up. KSL even interviewed Mayhew for a few stories in 2004, during which he shared insights on identity theft, a surging crime that year. "Identity theft happens every single day," he said at the time. "You're one out of a million they're targeting, and they mail out tons of this stuff to individuals. It's up to us to decide whether it's right or not."
Mayhew presented himself as a reformed criminal with a unique perspective on criminals' tricks of the trade. KSL5 also talked to Mayhew about home security in another story.
"Right now, everybody's buying stuff and they know if they were to invade a home right now, they're going to get all new stuff," he said.
Neighbors in his West Jordan neighborhood say he had lived with his mother in the house for about a year, or more.
"I understand Anthony grew up here, but then he left and came back about a year ago," said Darryl Lehmitz.
Court records indicate Mayhew had a history of civil and criminal complaints. Since 1995, Mayhew had been charged in several incidents for assault, burglary, kidnapping and hate crimes but all charges were dismissed in court.
In 2009, Mayhew was charged with breaking into a home and assaulting a man. Mayhew claimed he had heard a woman in distress and came to her aid. Those charges were dismissed after the home's owner failed to appear in court to testify.
In August, Mayhew filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Utah, claiming the criminal charges against him had caused him to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, interfered with his ability to find work and led to his bankruptcy. In 2012, Mayhew also filed civil lawsuits against South Salt Lake, West Jordan, the United States and plasma collection company CSL Behring.
On an online blogging profile that appears to be written by Mayhew, he described himself as a "notorious" member of a Japanese organized crime organization, a leading expert on crime and crime prevention, a former hit man and a criminal contractor. He also appears to boast of his previous run-ins with the law, writing that he has been incarcerated more than 35 times and charged with dozens of violent crimes but never linked to a homicide or sentenced to a U.S. prison.
"I prevent violent crimes from bleeding off into the civil world," says a quote in his online bio. "Let the Criminal Underworld be my domain for the Criminal Code is my Holy Bible."
Nobody seemed to know why he would end up on a TRAX platform making threats with a bomb.
"I didn't expect it from him," Elisha Palmer said.
Mayhew helped the next-door neighbors with a sprinkler project. He was always friendly and nice to their kids.
"He was a nice neighbor," Palmer said. "He's lived here about as long as we have, so we didn't know him very well."
Those KSL stories aired nearly 10 years after Mayhew first faced felony charges, including kidnapping, assault and hate crimes. There were two different incidents that started as disputes at night clubs.
Then, in 2009, Mayhew forced his way into an apartment to break up what he thought was a fight.
Those charges were all later dismissed.
So, last month, Mayhew sued the state, seeking $2.6 million in damages, claiming he was wrongfully charged all three cases.
Witnesses last night said that he was ranting about being wronged by the state.
"I knew he had a past, but we never talked about it," Palmer said.
Mayhew also kept a blog in which he made some incredible claims, including that he was a notorious Japanese American mobster, and a hitman at age 18.
