Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
TAYLORSVILLE — A Draper man has been arrested and accused of targeting homes that were vacant for extended periods of time.
And police believe that as their investigation continues to unfold, he could be linked to a string of burglaries across the Salt Lake Valley.
Jason Watnes, 44, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail late last week for investigation of five counts of theft by deception, possession of a weapon by a restricted person, and two counts of burglary.
Watnes and his associates are believed to be responsible for at least four and as many as nine burglaries throughout Salt Lake County, stealing everything from cars and guns to a trailer that police found Watnes living in, according to police.
Detectives believe Watnes would target homes where the owners were away. Taylorsville Police Sgt. Scott Lloyd said Watnes drove through neighborhoods in early March and found a home where there was snow in the front entryway that hadn't been shoveled and didn't have any footprints in it. Using that as a possible sign that no one had been home for a while, Watnes knocked on the door and when no one answered, he broke in, Lloyd said. A dozen guns found inside the house were taken.
Police believe Watnes also burglarized a home in Cottonwood Heights that was used only part-time by the owners. After determining that no one was home, he spent several hours inside the residence burglarizing it, according to investigators. He found keys to a Ford Expedition parked at the house and took the SUV, according to a police booking affidavit, then later returned and took a Ford Bronco from the same house.
The case started to come together after one of the stolen vehicles was recovered by Sandy police. Police located Watnes at an RV park in Draper living in a trailer that was stolen out of Taylorsville, Lloyd said. Eight of the 12 stolen guns have since been recovered. As the investigation progressed, detectives also recovered two stolen motorcycles and an ATV found in a storage shed, according to the sergeant.
Detectives on Wednesday were also still investigating claims that Watnes looked through the Salt Lake County Health Department's online list of homes that were closed to occupancy due to chemical contamination, such as from drugs, and then burglarized them.
Watnes currently has several outstanding criminal cases, according to court records, mainly for drug possession and burglary.
In the burglary case, Watnes is accused of breaking into a Draper home in July while the owner was on vacation. Power tools, thousands of dollars in cash and credit cards, alcohol from the refrigerator and guns from a safe that was cut open were taken, according to charging documents. One of Watnes' associates allegedly told police that "Watnes told her he looks for vacant houses to burglarize."
Lloyd said between four to six people could be involved in assisting Watnes. The investigation remained ongoing as of Wednesday.
To prevent similar burglaries from occurring in the future, Lloyd said there are several "common sense" precautions homeowners can take when they go on vacation or plan to be away from their summer or winter homes for weeks or months at a time.
He highly encourages homeowners to install motion detectors on their properties or lights with timers that come on periodically.
"Burglars don't like to have lights shining on them," he said.
Many good-quality surveillance cameras can also be purchased at a relatively low price, he added. All police need is a video or photo of a suspect and "we're pretty good at finding who they are."
Letting neighbors know when you're out of town so they can check on your house or even shovel your driveway to make your house look occupied is another way to deter burglars, he said. A few dollars to pay a neighbor to shovel snow is a small cost to pay for the potential loss of property. Lloyd also encouraged families not to advertise when they'll be out of town.
"One big thing is if you're going out of town, don't put it on social media. Friends of friends look at those sites," he said.
Homeowners should also put a stop on their mail while they're away or have a neighbor collect it regularly. Lloyd also encourages homeowners to make sure their back gates and side doors to their garages are locked before they leave town. And if possible, residents should record the serial numbers of valuable items. If those items are stolen, Lloyd said the chance of police recovering the items at a pawn shop when they have the serial number is well above 50%.
