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PROVO -- A man with a record of 27 arrests will not get out of jail for the holidays. Ira Walker was arrested again Friday, and on Monday he went before a judge.
During the bail hearing, prosecutors took the unusual step of calling a witness to ask that Ira Walker be kept in custody because of the nine felony cases pending against him.
"This is his fifth arrest since August, his fourth in the last month basically," said Utah County prosecutor Craig Johnson. "It is an alarming pattern to see him continually racking up felony after felony, and then bailing out and going out again. He is a menace to society."
Walker was arrested Thursday afternoon at a storage unit complex in Orem, and he was found in possession of a car stolen from Provo the day before -- along with other stolen property.
Prosecutors put that evidence before the judge and because Walker is already on out bail in a separate felony case. Utah law allows a defendant who commits a felony while out on bail to be kept in jail indefinitely.
"The fact that Judge McVey saw our events for what they are, and agreed to hold him without bail, is a great relief to the county attorney's office. Frankly, if he was out on the street, I don't think any car in Utah County was safe."
An officer with Orem police testified that Walker was found to be in possession of a stolen credit card and camera, reported on Thursday in American Fork. He also testified that after his arrest, Walker led police to two other stolen cars that he may have been involved in stealing.
New charges in the three newest cases against Walker are expected to be filed later this week, and prosecutors believe it's unlikely he will be allowed to bail out now for quite some time.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
