Where’s the Felony?
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WHERES THE FELONY?
Sergeant Scott VanWagoner Unified Police of Greater Salt Lake
In October of 2015 the Utah State Legislature made sweeping changes to the controlled substance laws. Hard street drugs, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine was reduced to a misdemeanor for possession under Utah State controlled substance act 58.37.8. Certainly, any narcotics enforcement officer will tell you this could have a detrimental affect on the effort UNOA members make on behalf of our communities. If a drug offender is convicted of a misdemeanor the sentencing guidelines differ dramatically than if convicted of a felony. As a result, you may have noticed property crime is on the rise in many communities. Any dope cop will tell you these crimes are perpetrated by those needing to supply hard drug addiction. This article is not meant to be derogatory to our law makers. Please read on to find there is a way to hold these street criminals accountable by other means.
Dope cops are very adept at finding the substance a suspect is addicted to. So now you have the drugs and paraphernalia on your street stop, you still have a misdemeanor. Where is the felony? What are you not seeing during the investigation that could possibly be charged as a felony?
With the up-tick in property crime, statistics in Salt Lake County showed that document theft was one of the largest increases. You investigate a vehicle burglary and all that is taken is the automobile registration and the insurance card. Why? The money in the vehicle ashtray is not the only thing of value in that car. Smart vehicle burglars are trading these documents for drugs, so the information contained on the documents can be used for identity theft. The methamphetamine cooks from yesterday are still cooking but not meth. We need to be looking for implements and item used in the “Identity Theft Lab”.
Drug users must pay for their stash. How are they financing the $120 a day heroin habit? Become familiar with Utah State Code 76.6. 501, 502 and the ensuing financial card offenses attached to the crimes of forgery. The “Identity Theft Act” 76.6.1101-1105 also gives you as the investigator much more latitude to find a felony during your drug investigations. Possession of multiple documents belonging to another and the documents are issued by the government, vehicle registrations, driver license, social security cards. Now you have a felony. This also applies to the many financial cards you’re finding during your drug searches. Don’t over look the felony when you’ve found the drug. Use the tools available to you to charge the felony.
You may come across whole identity theft laboratories during your searches. Depending on the totality of the dollar amount suffered by the victims of identity theft, these cases can be charged federally. You don’t have to be a financial crimes expert to put these cases together just review the suggested statutes and know what to look for outside of the simple possession charge to get the most out of your case.
Sergeant VanWagoner is a 29-year veteran of law enforcement and is currently the supervisor of the Millcreek Precinct Street Crimes Unit. He serves as a region 3 representative for UNOA.
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