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TAYLORSVILLE — Newly-released surveillance video reveals a man’s repeated attempts to break into a music store, in a heist that netted nearly $55,000 in guitars.
Police said the break-in was part of a larger spree on Dec. 14, which drew a response from West Valley City and Unified police departments and involved four businesses.
The video, which was obtained by KSL through an open records request, shows a man identified by police as 31-year-old Tyler Davis Cook repeatedly attempting to break into the Guitar Center at 5752 S. Redwood Road using a Chevy Blazer and chain – first by attaching the chain to the outer door and then to the inner metal security gate.
The video then shows the thief making three trips out of the store – the first carrying three guitars, the last two carrying four.
Music lovers KSL showed the video to Tuesday immediately remarked about the poor treatment of the guitars. Some appeared to be banged around and dropped during the heist.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Roger Erickson.
Adam Cheney called the actions “careless.”
“He’s beating them up, dragging them on the ground, smacking them into the wall,” Cheney said. “It obviously doesn’t mean anything to him. It’s just a quick paycheck. It just makes me wonder what his reasoning is behind wanting to grab those, why he’s taking them, where the deeper story goes, what his reasoning is.”
A Guitar Center manager declined to comment on the pending case.
Charging documents said the items taken from Guitar Center in Taylorsville had an estimated value of $54,780.
He's beating them up, dragging them on the ground, smacking them into the wall. It obviously doesn't mean anything to him.
–Adam Cheney
Police said the thief made three prior stops that night, including Cash America Pawn at 7189 W. 3500 South, EZ Pawn at 3105 W. 3500 South, both in West Valley City, and General Army Navy Outdoor at 4974 S. Redwood Road, in Taylorsville.
Cash America Pawn district manager Mike Malay said more damage was left behind at that business than the value of the items stolen. Malay estimated damages in the range of $8,000.
At General Army Navy, worker Vicky Berry said the store was still waiting for a new door, after police said the thief rammed the Blazer into the storefront.
“He took one of our axes and smashed all of the knife counters in this section,” Berry said. “Scooped up some of the knives and went out and put them in his truck and took off across our lawn.”
Berry said the break-in affected the business for days after it happened, with the shattered knife display.
“It was customers coming in saying ‘what’s going on, where are your knives?’” she recalled.
Charging documents said Cook was identified in surveillance video at EZ Pawn as a suspect who shattered a glass display window and made off with $410 in merchandise.
A manager at EZ Pawn declined to comment about the case Tuesday night.
Prosecutors charged Cook with 11 felonies and 3 misdemeanors, including a first-degree felony aggravated burglary count.
Also among the charges was a third-degree felony count of failure to respond to an officer’s signal to stop.
Charging documents said as Cook left Guitar Center, an officer commanded him to stop several times. The documents said Cook instead got into the Blazer and drove the SUV toward the officer, who stepped out of the way to avoid being struck by the vehicle.
Cook was ultimately taken into custody after another officer executed a pit maneuver on the Blazer.
Court records show a preliminary hearing has been set for Feb. 19.
