West Valley City
CRIME & SAFETY
Fire damages 3 homes in West Valley City
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, July 25, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — An early morning fire destroyed one home in West Valley City and damaged two others. Firefighters were summoned to the scene at 5038 W. Elaine Drive at about 2:40 a.m. Thursday, according to a West Valley City Fire Department news release.
West Valley man tied to 2 shootings in 24 hours at same West Jordan apartment complex
WEST JORDAN — Criminal charges have been filed against a man who police believe was involved in two shootings at a West Jordan apartment complex within 24 hours, resulting in three people being injured. Hidir Yousef Doka, 20, of West Valley City, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court...
Man sentenced to prison in 'unconscionable' shooting, robbery at West Valley salon
SALT LAKE CITY — A man who went on a crime spree across several states has pleaded guilty to shooting a woman and attacking a child during what prosecutors called an "unconscionable" robbery at a West Valley hair salon in 2021. Derrick Lamone Scott, 29, pleaded guilty Monday to...
Utah drug trafficking ringleader sentenced to 20 years in prison
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 24, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Joe Robert Rael, of Salt Lake City was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a term of 60 months of supervised release for engaging in a conspiracy to traffic narcotics and launder money. The sentence, imposed by U.S....
Judge sends 2 killers to prison; 1 gets harsher sentence for laughing, mocking after murder
SALT LAKE CITY — Jessica Romero McDonald told one of the two men who murdered her sister that she now has a mission to help others going through what her family did, and is training to be a police officer. She said the two men still have the freedom...
3 brothers in jail after assault in St. George bar spills into parking lot
ST. GEORGE — A bar fight involving a South Jordan man escorted out of the building for reportedly punching two men in the face triggered an altercation in the parking lot after the suspect’s brothers became involved. The incident ended with the arrest of all three, police say.
78-year-old man ordered to stand trial for 2021 murder
SALT LAKE CITY — A 78-year-old man has been ordered to stand trial for the 2021 murder of a Sandy woman after waiving his right to a preliminary hearing. William Richard O'Reilly, of South Jordan, is accused of shooting and stabbing Masako Yamada Kenley, an acquaintance and former co-worker, multiple times, and then dumping her body near the Jordan River in Sandy. He is charged with murder and discharge of a firearm causing serious injury, both first-degree felonies; and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.
Deadly fentanyl is 'most serious drug threat' in US history and on the rise in Utah, DEA warns
SALT LAKE CITY — A record number of fentanyl pills were seized in Utah in 2023. And through the first six months of 2024, that record has already been broken. "Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat this country has ever faced. And unfortunately we're seeing an increase in that threat," U.S. Attorney for Utah Trina Higgins said Thursday. "We're seeing an increase in the amount of pills that are being trafficked into and through the state of Utah."
Utah Supreme court overturns death sentence for man who murdered witness in 1985
The Utah Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Douglas Lovell this week, ruling that attorneys for the convicted murderer were ineffective during testimony about his excommunication from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The opinion, issued on Thursday, reaffirms Lovell’s murder conviction. But instead of facing the death penalty, he will be […]
Man accused of grabbing girl charged with attempted kidnapping
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man was charged Thursday with grabbing a 12-year-old girl as she was walking home. Mason Musser, 29, is charged in 3rd District Court with attempted child kidnapping, a first-degree felony. On July 19, a 12-year-old girl and her 14-year-old friend had just gotten...
Grocery store employee accused of using lost IDs to issue refunds to himself
SALT LAKE CITY — An employee of a bulk grocery store warehouse has been arrested for allegedly using lost IDs to defraud the store out of more than $40,000. The 27-year-old man was arrested Wednesday for investigation of unlawful use of technology to defraud and four counts of unlawfully possessing someone else's identification card.
Utah soldier killed in Alaska 'did so much with the little he was given'
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Army infantryman Arturo Gomez is being remembered for a heroic life, two days after he was struck and killed by a car in Alaska, driven by an accused drunk driver. "He did so much with the little he was given," said Scott Vranes, of...
2 escape with injuries from burning home in Salt Lake City's Ballpark neighborhood
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A late-night blaze consumed a home in Salt Lake City and left two residents displaced, authorities said. The fire erupted shortly after midnight on Van Buren Avenue in the Ballpark Neighborhood. Salt Lake Fire Capt. Shane Moser said responding firefighters were met with intense...
Man who assaulted woman on flight gets probation, fine
The 33-year-old Bozeman man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a female passenger while on a flight from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Bozeman, has been sentenced to probation and fined. The man, Hunter Andrew Dietrich, had pleaded guilty in March to assault onboard an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, a misdemeanor. During a Feb. 11, 2023, flight, Dietrich was disruptive, assaulted numerous individuals and disobeyed repeated instructions from the flight crew to behave, according to the statement. ...
Judge dismisses most claims by Utah man run over while being detained
(CN) — A federal judge in Utah dismissed claims that West Valley City Police officers violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of a man who suffered traumatic brain injuries after being tased and told to stay in the middle of a street, where a car ran him over.
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