An Erda man was arrested by Tooele County Sheriff’s deputies Wednesday after he allegedly stole packages from homes in Tooele and Stansbury Park.
Ian Spencer Thompson, 21, was arrested and booked into the Tooele County Detention Center on three counts of theft. No charges have been filed against Thompson in 3rd District Court as of Thursday morning.
A decoy package with a GPS tracking device was placed at a Stansbury Park home on Monday, according to a probable cause statement. Deputies were alerted the package was moving by GPS tracking at approximately 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
Deputies tracked the package from the home to the Soelberg’s parking lot, where it remained stationary, the probable cause statement said. They followed the vehicle containing the package to Millpond Drive, where the responding deputy activated the overhead lights and stopped behind the vehicle.
When the responding deputy approached the vehicle, they noticed the decoy package on the floor behind the passenger seat, the statement said. The deputy also noticed other opened boxes and torn labels scattered inside the vehicle.
The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, identified as Thompson, told the deputy he was just driving around, according to the probable cause statement. Thompson was arrested for theft and placed in the rear of a second deputy’s patrol vehicle.
During a search of the vehicle, deputies found two other packages with addresses out of Tooele City that did not belong to Thompson, the statement said. In an interview with deputies at the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, Thompson admitted to taking three total packages, including one from Stansbury Park and two from a residence in Tooele.
Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer said deputies have placed decoy packages in areas of unincorporated Tooele County this month in an effort to catch package thieves.