Police: Vandal caught after falsely reporting own truck as stolen


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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Occupants of a truck damaged numerous mailboxes and cars by hitting them with a baseball bat early Wednesday morning, police said.

A resident in the area of 2600 East and 6500 South called police about 3 a.m. to report a truck driving in the neighborhood with people using a baseball bat to hit mailboxes and vehicles out on the roadway, according to Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt. Corbett Ford. He said an officer was nearby and quickly responded.

“(The officer) actually saw the vehicle and as he was getting in and following the vehicle, the suspects in the truck reached out with a bat and hit a mailbox right in front of him,” Ford said. “He initiated his emergency equipment and at that point the driver fled and ultimately ended up driving into a dead-end street.”

All of the occupants of the vehicle bailed out of the truck and ran after reaching the dead end, according to police. Officers from nearby police departments assisted in setting up a containment area and located a 20-year-old woman, who was cited for non-related charges and released.


As (the officer) was getting in and following the vehicle, the suspects in the truck reached out with a bat and hit a mailbox right in front of him.

–Sgt. Ford


The woman was cooperative and provided information on others who were involved with the incident, Ford said.

“The driver of the vehicle about three hours later, apparently in an attempt to avoid — at least in his mind — becoming a suspect in this whole deal, decided it would be a good idea to call and report his vehicle as stolen,” he said. “It didn’t work out for him this morning — our officers made contact with him and ended up booking him into the Salt Lake County Jail.”

The driver, 18-year-old Jack Barret, will face potential charges for filing a false police report in addition to vandalism, Ford said. He said three adults and one juvenile were involved in the incident, which caused an estimated $2,500 of damage.

So far, investigators said they have received five reports of vandalism in an area spanning from 3000 East to 2300 East and 6600 South to 7000 South.

Once police have made contact with all of the suspects, Ford said they will screen felony charges for criminal mischief and vandalism with the district attorney’s office.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know there is anything that people could have done to prevent this,” he said. “We have people who are bored — it is amazing to me that we have all of the way from a 17-year-old to a 20-year-old so bored at 3 o’clock in the morning that they think it is a good idea to go out and damage the property of other people and create such problems for people to wake up to.”

Ford encouraged those who see suspicious activity to call police and credited the resident who reported seeing the car with helping to solve the case.

“He did the right thing — he didn’t confront him, he just called and gave us good information and we were able to go from that and locate them,” Ford said.

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