Three men have been arrested after police said they forged checks from an LDS church in Kearns that was heavily damaged in a suspicious fire Aug. 2. Investigators on Tuesday, however, were not calling the men suspects in connection with the fire.
The fire at the Western Hills 1st and 8th Wards, 5133 S. Heath Ave., caused an estimated $500,000 damage. Although officials aren't ready to definitively call it arson, they said it is very suspicious.
Two men were arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Friday for investigation of forgery. A third man, Angel Diaz-Juarez, was arrested Aug. 5 and booked into jail for investigation of two counts of forgery. He met the criteria for pre-trial services to release him pending his next court appearance, however, and he fled, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Paul Burnett.
One person told investigators that as soon as Juarez was released, a friend drove him to the bus station, where he bought a ticket to Chicago, although detectives had not been able to confirm that as of Tuesday, Burnett said.
Juarez was arrested after he allegedly tried to cash a "bishop's check" from the Kearns church to make a car payment. The $500 check was used at Utah Title Loan and the change deposited in a Zions Bank account, Burnett said.
When detectives were able to track Juarez down, he admitted to presenting the check at Utah Title as well as writing another $700 check at a Salt Lake market. But when asked where he got the checks, Juarez told investigators they simply appeared one day in his car already filled out, Burnett said.
On Aug. 6, a third check for $600 was cashed at a Zions Bank in Murray. A fingerprint left on the check led police to a second man, who was arrested.
The third man was arrested after a fourth check was cashed at an America First Credit Union in Kearns. The last two men arrested claimed their checks were either slipped under their doors or given to them by Juarez, Burnett said.
Investigators said Tuesday a "quantity" of checks are still missing from the building but none has been passed since the recent arrests. Detectives said that they were fairly sure the checks were not burned in the fire.
Jeff Sarnacki, resident agent-in-charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said there may be at least one other person in addition to the three already arrested who is in possession of some of the missing checks.
As of Tuesday, Sarnacki said he had not made any connection between the checks and the fire. A big step in determining the cause of the fire may be figuring out the "nexus between the stolen checks and the church" and "how these individuals came in possession of the checks," Sarnacki said.
Anyone with information about the fire or the possible whereabouts of Juarez is asked to call the sheriff's office at 743-7000.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com