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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — A night of vandalism and burglaries ended with a fight and two men being arrested, police said.
Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt. Corbett Ford said that police received a call Wednesday morning from a homeowner who allegedly caught two men robbing his garage near Creek Road and Danish Road.
Landon Franchow, 23, and Xavier Burtoft, 22, had walked through the neighborhood late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning "trying to figure out how to pay rent," Ford said. The two men allegedly burglarized several unlocked vehicles and also spray painted a car and a boat at one residence.
Ford said Franchow and Burtoft found an unlocked man door to a garage at one house, and they went inside and began taking food from a refrigerator inside the garage. The homeowner entered the garage and began fighting Franchow, and then detained him until police arrived.
This is a good remind for people to lock their doors, lock their cars and make sure they take valuables out of their cars overnight.
–Corbett Ford, Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt.
Burtoft fled the scene of the incident before police arrived, but officers later located him at his house, Ford said. Both men were arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail in connection with robbery, burglary, theft and criminal mischief.
Officers recovered several stolen items including food, beer, basketball shoes, an iPod, cologne and a calculator. Ford said the items have been returned to the property owners.
"This is a good remind for people to lock their doors, lock their cars and make sure they take valuables out of their cars overnight," Ford said. "We see a huge increase in vehicle burglaries when it gets closer to Christmas, but then we also see it when it comes to summer time because you have more people out and about. It's a good reminder for people to be mindful of what they are leaving in their cars regardless if it's at their house overnight or in a parking lot."
