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PROVO -- In an age of DNA and other high-tech crime solving technology, Provo police found some simple fingerprints helped them to crack the case of several unsolved car burglaries.
The cars were broken into in the underground parking garages at student housing south of the BYU campus at 878 E. 700 North in Provo.
The break-ins happened in the middle of the night on Feb. 1. The burglar started breaking windows to get into the cars and got away with iPods, cell phones and other valuables left inside the cars.
Police found a few good fingerprints at the scene, which last week helped them solve the case. Provo police Capt. Cliff Argyle said, "Our patrol officers got there and saw one of the vehicles has some fingerprints on it, and it was a newer vehicle, very clean, so the prints were very visible. So one of our detectives went out to the scene and was able to get those fingerprints that had some good ridges and were well defined."
When police ran the prints through the federal fingerprint database; there were no matches. But last week, police arrested 22-year-old Enoc Angel in Provo on a car break-in.
With his fingerprints from the county jail, they compared them to the February break-ins, and it was a match.
Angel has now been charged with nine counts of vehicle burglary and remains in jail on an immigration violation.
Police say there was $2,500 worth of damage to the cars from the break-ins and more than $4,000 of property stolen.
Detectives say the suspect told them he has already sold all of the stolen items because he needed money to pay his bills.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
