ST. GEORGE — A woman was arrested Friday for allegedly stealing merchandise at a sporting goods store.
According to court records, shortly before 1 p.m. at C-A-L Ranch on 850 North in St. George, the suspect grabbed multiple items and placed them in a black bag before fleeing from a side door on foot.
One of the employees told officers that while following the suspect into the parking lot, they observed the woman place the black bag near the back of a white vehicle and walk away.
The clerk called emergency dispatch and continued following the suspect, providing location information that was then relayed to responding officers.
The trail ended at Costco, where officers found the suspect, 47-year-old Terri Jo Orphan, a St. George resident.
Orphan told officers if they were going to arrest her, then do it, “but I don’t want to talk about it,” investigators recounted in the report.
Additional officers returned to where the suspect reportedly left the bag of merchandise. Officers watched surveillance footage showing the suspect exit the store carrying the black bag.
The officer also noted that Orphan “did not have the bag when I contacted her at Costco,” adding that it contained six hats, a Milwaukee brand hammer and a high-end racing jacket – items with a combined value of more than $478.
“While searching the black bag containing the stolen property, I located a glass pipe with (burnt) residue of the type commonly used to smoke illegal drugs,” the investigating officer wrote.
Once in custody, Orphan asked for an attorney and refused to speak to police before being transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility. She was booked into jail facing two misdemeanor charges for theft and possession of paraphernalia.
Following the arrest Friday, officers noted Orphan’s extensive criminal history, including multiple cases involving theft, forgery, burglary, bad checks and receiving stolen property, as well as other offenses.
The suspect remains in custody without bail.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.
Cody Blowers was raised in South San Francisco, California. A 2013 graduate of Colorado Technical University, Cody earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in paralegal studies. Through the course of her academic studies she discovered that writing is her true passion, and she is committed to providing credible, integrated news coverage. Cody joined St. George News in 2015, and when she’s not busy chasing the news, she can generally be found chasing her young granddaughter, Kali.
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