ST. GEORGE — A theft at a clothing store in Washington City over the weekend led officers to a couple who allegedly traveled to the area in a stolen vehicle to steal from stores, police say.
On Sunday shortly after 4:30 p.m., Washington City Police officers were dispatched to a clothing store on Telegraph Street on a report of a retail theft.
According to charging documents filed with the court, the reporting party told officers a woman left the store without paying for merchandise and was last seen leaving the area in a brown Honda CR-V with a Virginia license plate. Police say they later found this vehicle listed as stolen. During a canvass of the area, officers were unable to locate the vehicle.
The car was later found abandoned in the nearby Costco parking lot.
While viewing the store’s security footage of the parking lot, officers obtained a description of the clothing that both suspects were wearing when they abandoned the car. A short while later, an officer spotted the pair and both were taken into custody.
The driver was identified as Breonna Michelle McKay, 29, and Michael Joseph Scinta, 34, was identified as the passenger. Both are from Las Vegas, Nevada.
During a search of McKay, officers found a driver’s license under a different name, which she reportedly told officers she found on a casino table years ago and continued using it as an ID to purchase cigarettes.
Officers recovered a passport belonging to another individual, along with baggies that contained suspected methamphetamine and fentanyl, as well as the keys to the Honda that was reported as stolen.
During a search of the vehicle, merchandise that was allegedly taken from the clothing store was recovered along with suspected meth in the center console and drug paraphernalia scattered throughout the car.
During an interview with police, Scinta said he lives in Las Vegas and is addicted to fentanyl and meth, adding he “has to steal from stores” to support his habit and decided to travel to Utah since he believed “it would be easy to steal and not get caught,” the officer noted in the report.
Scinta said the car belonged to his brother who died and he didn’t have the title or bill of sale for the car, the report states. He also said he has been driving around in the Honda for “months.” The suspect declined to answer any questions regarding the passport or the narcotics reportedly found in the car.
In reference to the Honda, McKay said that Scinta “came into contact with the vehicle” and the pair have had it for a short time, but she said she did not know how he originally got the vehicle. She also said that she and Scinta had traveled to the area to steal from stores to support their drug habit, adding “she also wanted a change of scenery for her and her dog,” according to the report.
In the trunk, officers recovered license plates issued out of Nevada that did not belong on the car but appeared to be the plates that were on the vehicle the previous evening when the Honda was involved in an evading incident in St. George, authorities say.
Both suspects were then transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility on multiple charges, including one second-degree felony count of possession of a stolen vehicle and two third-degree felony counts of possession of a controlled substance. Each also faces misdemeanor charges of theft, possession of another’s identifying documents and possession of paraphernalia.
Both suspects made an initial appearance in 5th District Court Monday afternoon and a bail reduction hearing was scheduled in each of their cases on Tuesday. They remain in custody at this time.
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.
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