By Zak Sonntag | [email protected]

A man suspected of criminal fraud and forgery was brought into custody with the help of two Holladay Precinct detectives, who tracked him from Holladay to Herriman over the course of a single night in February. The man was found in the possession of hundreds of stolen credit cards and IDs, along with 50 fraudulent checks ready to be cashed.

“I can’t even fathom how many charges are going to come out of this,” said Holladay Precinct Chief Justin Hoyal. “So far there’s over 100 victims. Fifty different identities taken. More than 400 transaction cards, meaning credit cards and gift cards. We believe he has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in forgeries, and probably about $100,000 in vehicle burglaries. We’re only a week into [the investigation] and it keeps going.”

Detective Easton Story was leaving work on a Tuesday evening when a driver sped past the precinct, according to Hoyal, who debriefed the Holladay City Council of the incident in the following days. Story attempted to stop the driver, but he fled and momentarily escaped. However, Story recognized the vehicle, and after running the plates he discovered the car belonged to a suspect he’d already been searching for.

Story then joined forces with Detective Shayne Laycock, and together the two detectives tracked the suspect across the valley before ultimately locating him in Herriman, where a search warrant for his vehicle revealed evidence of fraud and forgery, including a “computer we believe he was using as a mobile fraud making unit,” Hoyal said. 

The evidence found in the vehicle led to a search warrant for his apartment, where additional criminal materials were discovered that have since led to further cases. Police agencies across the Wasatch Front have since been coordinating with the Holladay detectives to solve other crimes implicated by the evidence discovered in the initial February bust. 

“It was a significant catch, and it all started with one of our officers pulling out at the right time. But it’s also the follow-through. Not to just let it go. And that will bring down a lot of incidences [of crime] across the Wasatch Front,” said Holladay Mayor Robert Dahle following Hoyal’s debrief.