St. George • Washington County sheriff’s on-and-off investigation of a gun-toting, machete-wielding Ivins man who is allegedly threatening hikers walking their dogs off-leash on area trails is back on again.
After declaring the investigation was over in a Dec. 20 news release, Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Joel Hafoka told The Tribune in an email Tuesday that the investigation has been reopened for a second time and will now involve the Washington County Attorney’s Office.
“The case has … been re-opened as part of a larger investigation into the matter,” Hafoka stated in the email. “The case will be reviewed by the county attorney’s office, so it will remain open until we get a reply from them. At this point, there is no further information I can provide about the case until we hear back from the [county attorney’s] office.”
In deciding to reopen the case, Hafoka said sheriff’s investigators would still be doing the actual investigating, but the Washington County Attorney’s Office would be reviewing the case to determine if the current evidence supports bringing charges.
As of Wednesday, the county attorney’s office told The Tribune it has not begun reviewing the evidence because it hasn’t yet received any information from the county sheriff’s office.
The decision to reopen the case comes one day after The Tribune reported that some hikers who have had potentially violent scraps with the Ivins man were not happy with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, saying they have not done due diligence in investigating the incidents.
The recurrent investigation of the alleged “leash-law vigilante” stems from an incident involving St. George resident Jaden Turner, who said she was confronted by the man while she was walking her unleashed dog Baz on a Bureau of Land Management trail in the Santa Clara Reserve on Dec. 5. She said the man began verbally abusing her, pulled out a pistol and threatened to shoot her and Baz if she didn’t put a leash on the dog.
After Turner met with two sheriff’s deputies the following day and subsequently provided them with additional leads, she said she never heard from them again. Others walking their dogs off-leash on BLM lands in the Red Cliffs Reserve have also reported being verbally abused and threatened by the Ivins man, but said they haven’t been contacted by sheriff’s investigators.
After meeting with Turner, sheriff’s investigators said they interviewed the Ivins man, whose name is being withheld, but said he was only defending himself and characterized the incident as his word against hers. But one day after The Tribune’s Dec. 15 article on the multiple incidents, the county sheriff’s office told Fox 13 News that they were reopening the case.
In closing the investigation yet again several days later, the county sheriff’s office stated in the Dec. 20 press release that the Ivins man said he felt threatened by Baz and only drew his gun to defend himself. He denied ever pointing the pistol at Turner, according to sheriff’s investigators.
No mention was made in the release of incidents involving the man and other hikers. Moreover, there was no mention of two more altercations that occurred at the man’s second place of residence in Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming.
Last June, the man allegedly wielded a machete and threatened a dog owner whose pets were off-leash in the Wyoming community and only backed down and walked away after a neighbor of the dog owner retrieved a gun and told him to “drop [the machete],” according to reports compiled by Star Valley Ranch special municipal officer Jim Rogers. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office also investigated the incident but didn’t bring charges.
In September, Terry Martin said the same man, who is a neighbor of his in Star Valley Ranch, threatened to take him out if he trespassed on his property. He referred the incident to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office — not to bring charges, but to make them aware of it.
Despite this string of incidents, Lincoln County sheriff’s officials — like some Utah hikers — say they haven’t heard from Washington County sheriff’s investigators. Asked last week if his office had looked into the other incidents in Wyoming, sheriff’s deputy Graham Hancock said no.
“With witness statements from involved parties as well as [the Ivins man] mostly matching, there was no evidence of a crime committed, therefore no reason to further look into [the man’s] previous involvements [that were] not in our area,” he stated in a Dec. 23 email.
Even though the case has been reopened, Karen Rossiter is one of several area residents who remain skeptical about the outcome.
“It’s troubling that this individual lives in our community and has been allowed to continue with this abhorrent behavior,” the Ivins resident said. “Many women here now feel compelled to arm themselves and wear body cameras. Our sense of safety and security is being taken from us, while we see little being done by law enforcement.”
Added Ivins resident and avid hiker Sedona Arabella:
“I don’t feel safe doing the one thing I loved and trusted to be safe. Now I have moments where I [have] anxiety planning for my hikes … Instead of just grabbing my water and going, I now have to strap on my body camera and mace.”
