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Update: Monday, March 23, Unified Police Department sent out a statement about this case, saying the man in the video was a painter who had been given the wrong address for a job. Read the story here.RIVERTON — Police need help from the public to identify a man caught on camera getting a little too close for comfort at one family's home.
Adam and Juli Brown have spent the last three years in their Riverton home, near 5000 West and 13400 South, and say their's is very safe neighborhood. But after seeing a suspicious man come on to their property Friday, they are just glad they have a system to capture a clear shot of the guy to turn over to police.
"We would never expect anything like that to happen in our neighborhood," Juli Brown said Sunday.
The Browns have a very elaborate home security system. They, of course, use the system for safety, but they also use it for another reason.
"It's mostly to help me with my disabilities. I think that's what we use it for," Juli Brown said.
The majority of her time is spent in bed, "home all day, everyday, basically because I have Lyme disease," she said. "I use the camera a lot if my son is home. I can see what room he's in, what he's doing."
Around 7 a.m. Friday, when it was still dark outside, one of the Browns' security cameras picked up and unfamiliar face.
"I played the video and my heart just sank," Juli Brown said.
Was his intent to break into this home? Was he looking for a job and got the wrong address? What was his intent? We don't know.
–Lt. Justin Hoyal, UPD
The video showed the man pulling up in a white van, walking to the porch, and punching in a code on the Brown's doorknob key pad. He then took a look around and walked off.
"How come he didn't knock? How come he didn't ring the door bell?" Adam Brown wanted to know.
The Browns immediately turned the video over to police.
"We don't know what his intent was," said Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal. "Was his intent to break into this home? Was he looking for a job and got the wrong address? What was his intent? We don't know."
Julie and Adam Brown have their own suspicions about what the mystery man was doing poking around on their porch.
"We've had a lot of maintenance people here and we know what they look like, and they always call us before (coming over)," Juli Brown said.
"The van had a driver in it. The headlights were turned off," she said.
"This is suspicious; and that's what we're looking into, is a suspicious action that this individual took," Hoyal said.
The Unified Police Department has posted the video on its Riverton Precinct Facebook page. Anyone with information on the man's identity is asked to call police at 801-743-7000.
At this point, police say the man is just wanted for questioning, simply to determine what exactly he was doing on this porch and hopefully the Brown family's minds at ease.
