FARR WEST — Police are looking for a suspected thief who ran from them and escaped through a cornfield.
Around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, a deputy from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office noticed a camper trailer on 12th Street that matched the description of one that was reported stolen that morning in Marriot-Slaterville, said Weber County Sheriff’s Lt. Matthew Bell.
The deputy tried to pull over the pick-up truck hauling the trailer near the 12th Street off-ramp to Interstate 15. But when he got out to talk to the driver, the truck and trailer took off, Bell said.
The deputy did not pursue the suspect because traffic on I-15 was very heavy, Bell added.
The sheriff’s office believes their suspect is Jason Moulding, 32, with whom they are already familiar. Besides being wanted by the deputies, he also is wanted by Adult Probation and Parole, Bell said, although he could not say for what.
"He’s been in the system," Bell said, but he could not elaborate on Moulding’s prior charges.
A short time after Moulding took off, police believe he abandoned the truck near the 1800 North exit of I-15 in Farr West and ran down the embankment to 1900 West, where he then tried to steal a four-wheeler. The homeowner came out and stopped him, so the suspect fled into the large cornfield, Bell said.
About 25 officers from the sheriff’s office, Pleasant View, Harrisville, the Utah Highway Patrol and the Utah State Fish and Game Office came out to set up a perimeter around the cornfield and keep an eye out for him. The perimeter around the cornfield stretched from about 1900 West to about 1500 West, and from 1800 North to an irrigation canal about five blocks south.
Utah Highway Patrol flew a helicopter over the field with a thermal-imaging scanner, but did not find anyone.
Bell speculated that the suspect made it out of the cornfield before the perimeter was up.
The sheriff’s office stopped searching the field and the immediate surrounding area about 8 p.m., but they are still out looking for him. At this point, he is suspected of the theft of the camper trailer, the attempted theft of the four-wheeler and evading police, Bell said.
Anyone with information can call Weber Area Consolidated Dispatch at 801-629-8221.
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