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Tonya Papanikolas ReportingA 23-year-old man is facing charges of robbery, car theft and possession of stolen property. Officers say he stole numerous cars, including a police vehicle.
The suspect went into a Shopko on Saturday, where he was stopped by security. They say he was trying to shoplift. Police say loss prevention employees at the store saw what Travis McDonald was doing and followed him as he left the store. Once he got into the parking lot, they tried to stop him, and officers say he assaulted one of the employees. They detained him and called police.
Once he was taken into custody, officers located stolen property and numerous sets of cars keys on him, including the keys to the police car that was stolen and recovered on Friday. The car McDonald allegedly drove to the store was also stolen. Officers found more sets of car keys in that car.
Police say he'd stolen cars with the keys in them.
Det. Dwayne Baird, Salt Lake City Police: "He's going around seeing cars already warming up or for some reason doesn't have anybody inside, and he jumps in and takes off. And it takes him probably two or three seconds to drive away in someone's car."
Investigators have since identified other car theft victims and cleared some of the cases. The employee from Shopko who was assaulted is doing fine.
