Thread: UTAH...Millard County deputy shot, killed; SWAT at west SLC

A Millard County sheriff's deputy was shot and killed early Tuesday, and a statewide manhunt for the suspect may have narrowed down to a few blocks of west Salt Lake City.

Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox was gunned down about 1 a.m. during a traffic stop a mile east of Delta. Her body was found by a second deputy, who was responding to her request for backup. Fox, a mother of two, had been with the Millard County Sheriff's Department five years.

Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Nigbur identified the "prime suspect" sought in the shooting as Roberto Miramontes Roman. He is described as a 37-year-old Latino, 5-foot-7, 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Roman is possibly armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, and is considered dangerous. Anyone with information on Roman's whereabouts is urged to immediately call 911.

"We have information that he's not going to be taken alive," Nigbur said.

Roman has a significant criminal history, including drug offenses, and a court-ordered illegal immigration-related deportation.

Millard County officials said the suspect vehicle, an orange Corvette, had been stopped as part of an investigation into recent thefts. The suspect had sped away from the scene by the time the second deputy arrived.

The search the suspect quickly focused to Salt Lake City, where police found a vehicle -- believed to be the Corvette -- near 300 South and 1100 West. Police also were keeping a lookout for a gray 1995 Cadillac Deville, license plate number 713-PAB, that the suspect may now be driving.

By 7 a.m., SWAT officers were seen in the area of 300 South and 1100 West. Police would not confirm that they may have located the suspect, though it appeared a containment area was being set up. Two local schools -- Guadalupe and Franklin -- were closed and traffic through the area blocked while officers went door-to-door, searching for the suspect.

Nigbur said three SWAT teams were deployed in the area, focusing on "two or three" homes believed to be occupied by relatives of the suspect. No neighborhood evacuations were immediately ordered, however.

Roman has a criminal history beginning in 1992 with a misdemeanor drug distribution charge to which he pleaded guilty in Fillmore's 4th District Court.

Then in 1996 and 1997, Roman was charged in Millard County with a handful of felonies in two different cases, including drug charges, receiving stolen property and a weapons count.

He resolved the cases by pleading guilty to one count of third-degree felony drug possession and one count of second-degree felony drug possession with intent to distribute.

Utah Board of Pardons and Parole spokesman Jim Hatch said Roman was sentenced to prison for up to 15 years in June 1997.

Roman was released into the custody of Immigration authorities on Sept. 15, 1998 and deported.

Court records show that at the time the crimes were committed, Roman was a resident of Delta. All three cases were investigated by the Millard County Sheriff's Office.

Meanwhile, in Millard County, law enforcement ordered closure of U.S. 50 in both directions just east of Delta as their investigation into the slaying got under way this morning. The road has since been reopened, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14125040?source=rv

ANY Politician that Votes for Open Borders / Mass Amnesty ... this death and the 75,000 since this Invasion began falls on your shoulders

you are an Un-indicted Co-Conspirator

the first thing out of a citizens mouth when speaking to your Open Border Politician should be "You Have the Right to Remain Silent" "Anything You Say CAN and WILL be held AGAINST You in a Court of LAW"

This is unbelieveable, I sent it to all MSM but you think the cowards will report on it? Way to go Utah, sanctuary state, who gives Drivers licenses to illegal aliens....way to go! so much for protecting Americans, this is a disgrace on this state!

added to homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article4811.html

Godspeed, Deputy Greathouse Fox...

http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/CLI...y?openframeset

I'll be busy for awhile now calling and emailing all these jerks asking are they proud of themselves for wasting the life of this Deputy.

Just the added cost of doing business with Cheap, Illegal Alien Labor and those who profit by it will not shed a tear.

send it to those open border loving house reps and tell them this is why there should be no amnesty

Just another American citizen killed at the hands of an illegal. Now tell this story to the pro-illegal crowd, but do you think they will care?

The Amnesty garbage will be coming up soon, so are you going to sit back and do nothing, or will you get involved? The choice is yours..........

Female Millard deputy shot, killed; manhunt ongoing in several Utah counties for suspects
By Pat Reavyand Geoff Liesik



Salt Lake City Police Department
Roberto Miramontes Roman is seen in an undated photo. Roman, 37, is described as Hispanic, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information related to him is asked to contact the Millard County Sheriff's Office at 435-743-5302 or Salt Lake police at 801-799-3000.

Gallery (21 photos

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 6:19 p.m. MST
90 comments




Millard County Sheriff

DELTA — A Millard County sheriff's deputy was shot and killed early Tuesday, sparking a massive manhunt over several counties for at least two people in connection with the slaying.

Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox was shot, apparently without warning, during a traffic stop about 1 a.m. She was the second female officer in Utah history to be killed in the line of duty.

Fox and her sergeant spotted two suspicious vehicles about one mile east of Delta, where there had been a recent string of home burglaries and trailer thefts, said Millard County Sheriff Robert A. Dekker.

The sergeant planned to stop one of the vehicles and told Fox to stop the other vehicle. He told Fox to hold the vehicle, and he would arrive shortly.

Fox pulled over a Cadillac sedan on state Route 50. Shortly afterward, the sergeant arrived.

"He found deputy Fox laying in the road. The suspect vehicle was gone," Dekker said.

Fox, 37, still had her flashlight in her hand. Her gun was still in its holster. A single bullet had entered above her protective vest, just above her badge, he said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

"She was a great deputy," said the sheriff, who described Fox as a "Delta gal" and a "real peach."

"She's done us a good job. She had the ability to talk to the youth in our community."

Fox leaves behind a husband and two children. She had been with the Millard County Sheriff's Office for more than five years. Her husband, an oil field worker, was out of town in Vernal when he was informed about the shooting.

"We're a small agency. We've lost a loved one and a close friend," Dekker said, adding that Fox was "nonjudgmental and liked by everybody."

Dekker said he believes his deputy was killed instantly.

"I think the shooting happened as soon as the stop was made, as soon as she made the approach," he said.

Following the shooting, the search was soon on for Roberto Miramontes Roman, 37. Detectives believe he drove a Cadillac Deville to Nephi where he met another person with an orange Corvette. There, investigators believe he removed the rear license plate from the Cadillac and placed it on the Corvette. The Cadillac was later located in Nephi and was processed by Utah County sheriff's deputies.

Using GPS tracking on his cell phone, investigators developed information that Roman was in the Poplar Grove neighborhood of Salt Lake City Tuesday morning. The orange Corvette was located near Franklin Elementary, 1115 W. 300 South.

Between 30 and 50 officers, including SWAT teams from three departments, closed off an area on 1000 West from 200 South to 400 South and on 300 South between 1000 West and 1150 West. Residents were told to stay inside their homes. Nearby Franklin Elementary was closed for the day as well as Guadalupe charter school. Parkview Elementary, 970 Emery Street (1170 West), was placed in a voluntary lockdown mode.

Detectives determined Roman had several relatives who lived in the area and SWAT teams started searching those houses.

Andres Pedra said police mistakenly believed that Roman's grandmother lived in his house near 400 South and 1100 West.

"We said no, we had nothing to do with that," Pedra told the Deseret News.

SWAT teams searched the house anyway and found nothing. Pedra said he didn't mind the slight inconvenience. "It was fine," he said, noting that he understood the officers are trying to keep the community safe.

About 10 a.m., law enforcers focused on a shed and trailer near 500 South and 1050 West where the Corvette was found. About an hour later, officers fired tear gas into the shed and a trailer. No one was found inside.

Officers continued to search the house on the property but found nothing. The neighborhood containment was lifted about 1 p.m. Police said they found no evidence, other than the car, that Roman had been there Tuesday.

Firefighters and the health department were called back to that house a few hours later when the family suffered respiratory problems and itchy eyes because of the lingering tear gas. The house was "closed to occupancy" by the health department and the family was put up in a hotel room for the evening.

Sylvia Mirmontes was crying outside her house after firefighters arrived as her three daughters tried to console her. She said police came to her door Tuesday morning and said they were looking for her brother's cousin, Roman.

"They thought he was inside the house," Miramontes said, "They came in and broke my house. We didn't even know the car was parked in front of our house. I don't know where he's at."

She said the last time she saw Roman at the house was New Year's Eve. Miramontes said if she had known Roman was on his way there, she would have taken her kids out of the house and called police.

Guillermo Miramontes, Sylvia's son, said the police initially took his family from the house to their nearby command post and told them about Roman.

"I was just like, I can't believe he just did something like this, and this poor officer, and I would never think he would do somthing like that," he said. "I was real shocked about it."

Melinda Mahana lives across the street from the house that was searched and watched, along with her children, as SWAT teams acted.

"I've seen the guy. I know who he is. He's been over there before," she said.

Mahana said she did not see Roman at the house on Tuesday. She said the Corvette was not parked in front of the house Monday night, but she noticed it about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Mahana believed several families lived in the house and watched as police ordered four adults and several children outside. They then forced a fifth man out of a backyard shed.

"They put him to the ground … put him in handcuffs," she said.

The man, who was reportedly Roman's uncle, was later released after being questioned.

Roman is described as Hispanic, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Investigators would not confirm some reports that Roman may be carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, but say he should be considered armed and dangerous and anyone who sees him should call 911 immediately.

Also Tuesday afternoon, the Utah County sheriff's SWAT team searched a residence in Nephi, but found nothing.

Police have identified a second "person of interest" in the case, Ruben Chavez Reyes, 36. Dekker said Reyes owns both the Cadillac and Corvette and is a friend of Roman.

Reyes is believed to have "information on possibly where our primary suspect is," said Department of Public Safety spokesman Jeff Nigbur. "We are investigating whether he may have either helped or assisted (Roman)."


Fox is the 129th Utah officer killed in the line of duty and only the second woman. The first female officer was Esther Todecheene, with the Navajo Department of Safety, who was killed June 8, 1998, after her car rolled when she lost control on a corner while responding to a call from another officer.

Clarke Christensen, director of the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial Association, presented a check for $2,000 to Fox's family Tuesday.

"We do this for every family of a fallen officer. It's amazing how many costs build up immediately," he said.

The money comes from donations and contributions to the memorial.

Christensen said Fox had quite a reputation.

"My home agency is Orem police and she's known up there," he said.

Tributes also came from several of Utah's top officials Tuesday.

Gov. Gary Herbert and his wife offered their deepest condolences.

"Millard County and the entire state of Utah suffered a devastating loss with this tragic, early-morning shooting. By all accounts, deputy Fox was an officer who loved her job and was proud to serve her community. She was an asset to her community and a true hero to the state of Utah," Herbert said.

The governor ordered all flags to flay at half staff until sunset Wednesday.

"My deepest condolences to Josie's husband and her two children," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said, while also dedicating manpower from his office to the search for the killer. "One of Josie's Police Academy instructors told me this morning how well he remembered her zeal and dedication even though it had been five years since she graduated from the academy."

Roman's criminal history in Utah has been largely drug-related. He pleaded guilty to a charge of distribution of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor, in 1992, and to charges of possession with the intent to distribute and use, and/or possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a concealed dangerous weapon in 1997.

Roman was arrested four times in the past by the Millard County Sheriff's Office and had been deported at least once, but had come back to Utah, Dekker said.

When asked about his feelings on illegal immigration, the sheriff declined to comment specifically on this case, but said, "I think there's some things that need to be fixed."

Dash cameras on Fox's patrol car and the sergeant's car hadn't been engaged.

Dekker said the last deputy killed in Millard County was Floyd Rose in 1922. Rose was a car salesman who was a volunteer deputy. He was shot while attempting to apprehend an inmate who had escaped from the jail. Rose, also, was killed in Delta.

Anyone who believes they have seen Roman Reyes or has any information related to them is asked to contact the Millard County Sheriff's Office at 435-743-5302 or Salt Lake police at 801-799-3000.

Contributing: Emiley Morgan

e-mail: preavy@desnews.com; gliesik@desnews.com







http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7053 ... pects.html

Roman has a criminal history beginning in 1992 with a misdemeanor drug distribution charge to which he pleaded guilty in Fillmore's 4th District Court.

Then in 1996 and 1997, Roman was charged in Millard County with a handful of felonies in two different cases, including drug charges, receiving stolen property and a weapons count.

Legal immigrants get deported for felonies such as these, why was this scumbag still here??? Seems to me hispanic illegal aliens are getting free passes that non-hispanics, legal and illegal.

Hope the officer's family sues the hell out of the sanctuary city!