WASHINGTON, Washington County — An investigation into a homeless man police say has been breaking into numerous storage facilities across Washington County is growing.
Last week, Aaron Mayeda Brewer, 34, was charged in 5th District Court with four counts of theft of a firearm and causing property damage, second-degree felonies; 10 counts of burglary and four counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, third-degree felonies; drug possession, a class A misdemeanor; and trespassing, reckless driving, interfering with police and having burglary tools, class B misdemeanors.
Those charges were based on storage unit break-ins in St. George.
On Monday, police arrested Brewer — who has remained incarcerated since his original arrest — for investigation of an additional five counts of burglary, two counts of theft and criminal mischief.
The new allegations come from storage unit burglaries in the city of Washington.
“The Towne Storage on Washington Dam Road was broken into by the same suspect four times. Sixty-seven locks were cut and 20 latches were grinded into,” according to a police booking affidavit.
In total, police believe Brewer has broken into 86 storage units in Washington at multiple businesses since October. Among the items stolen include gold coins, bullion and other collector coins, a safe with $10,000 cash, a $20,000 Rolex watch and other high-end watches, and several Mac books, the affidavit states. One victim estimated total losses to be about $45,000 while another estimated the total value of stolen items was more than $61,000, according to the affidavit.
When Brewer was found sleeping in a tent in his mother’s backyard and arrested on Nov. 14, police found so many suspected stolen items that backup officers were called “to assist due to the overwhelming amount of evidence to go through, including multiple AR-style rifles, handguns, one of which had a suppressor and others,” according to charging documents. “Based on this investigation, it is evident Aaron has been committing storage unit burglaries for months, leaving numerous victims in his path. Detectives are currently sifting through a large amount of evidence in order to verify the link between Aaron and the other burglaries.”
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