ST. GEORGE – According to the law, a man can’t help himself to another man’s treasure, call it trash and sell it without ending up in jail facing a felony charge, as one St. George man learned Friday when he was arrested for selling over 400 pounds of stolen business signs to a recycling company in St. George.
Officers responded to Dixie Metal Recycling on a report of “suspicious scrap metal sales,” according to a probable cause statement filed by the St. George Police Department in support of the arrest.
The recycling business reported buying 435 pounds of construction signs from 33-year-old Randolph Ronald Schmitz. The signs were marked as belonging to Wadsworth Brothers Construction.
Police contacted the construction company who said there was no reason the signs, with an estimated value of $2,274, according to the statement, would have been sold as scrap, and that they were stolen.
When police spoke with Schmitz, he told them he “found them in a dumpster and decided to sell them,” the arresting officer wrote in the statement.
Schmitz was arrested and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.
He was charged with third-degree felony theft for possession of stolen property with a value greater than $1,500.
Bail for his release pending trial stands at $5,000 for the theft.
Schmitz made his initial court appearance Monday afternoon.
At the time of his arrest, Schmitz also had an outstanding warrant issued by the Washington County Justice Court for driving on a suspended driver’s license in June 2014 and failing to pay the associated court-ordered fine, according to court documents.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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Those signs WOULD be allowed in the blue recycle bins.
Well yeah but not all at once. LOL.!
435 LBS of “beware of dog” signs might raise suspicions..
Yeah 435 pounds of Hillary for president signs would of raised suspicions also
Is he still temple worthy.?