The Glade 4.0

PROVO -- Police arrested an elderly man on July 1 for criminal trespass, but weeks later he still refuses to provide authorities with his name. Now, the Utah County Sheriff's Office hopes the public can help identify the man.
According to Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Harris, the man is about 71 years old and was booked into jail on three misdemeanor charges. He did not have any identification with him and will not tell authorities his name. A judge set his bail at $1,200, but he remains in jail.
"You hate to see somebody still stay in jail just because they're so stubborn," Harris said. "We don't want to see anybody in here longer than they should be."
Police have been referring to the man simply as "John Doe." He is described as a white male, about 6 feet 2 inches and weighing 175 pounds. He has blue eyes and gray hair.
Harris said that officials suspect he may be from out of state because he didn't seem aware of things commonly seen in Utah. Specifically, Harris said that at one point authorities learned that the man had not ever heard of DI, or Deseret Industries.
Harris said that occasionally people refuse to give police basic identification information, but that they usually break down after sitting for a few days in jail. In the case of John Doe, however, authorities haven't been able to learn anything.
"It leads you to believe they're hiding something," Harris said, "which may or may not be the case with this individual."
Anyone with information about the man is encouraged to call Lt. Scott Carter at (801) 851-4202.

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A mystery US man arrested on minor charges more than three weeks ago remains behind bars in Utah while law enforcement officials try to determine his true identity, which he refuses to reveal.
"This is really a strange case," said Lieutenant Dennis Harris with the Utah County Sheriff's Office. "He just doesn't want to be found."
The unidentified man, who has greying hair, a light beard and is believed to be in his sixties, was arrested on July 1 for trespassing in a parking garage.

He was booked into jail on three misdemeanour charges and has thwarted any chance of release, with or without bail, by refusing to identify himself.
"I've been trying to think from A to Z why he would want to stay here ... why he wouldn't give us any information," Harris said.
"He either has to be wanted by some other state or he could be on some other registry or database that has not shown up," he added.
Law enforcement officials say the man is "fairly well spoken and educated", but very guarded about his identity.
As a result of several short conversations with him, officers believe he may not be from Utah.
Officials gave the man a telephone calling card so he might contact friends or relatives, but he has not used it.
"He was very aware of what we were trying to do and he would not give us the slightest bit of information indicating where he was from or anything relating to his family situation," said Harris.
"We've had a lot of people call in but nothing has panned out. Nothing," he added.
Officials say in three weeks of jail the mystery man has shown a pleasant demeanour and has communicated that he is being treated well.
"He said the food has been great," Harris said.
"I realise that sometimes people want to go to jail because they are homeless, have nothing, they are destitute. I've seen that over the years. I just don't get the impression that's the reason. He just doesn't want to be discovered by somebody."
Now in his fourth week of incarceration, the man added another twist to the story recently by hinting he had business of some kind outside prison that he would need to attend to.
"He said there was a point at some time that he would need to get out of jail," Harris said. "That's the closest I can find of what he wants to do. And that makes no sense to me whatsoever."

He either has to be wanted by some other state or he could be on some other registry or database that has not shown up.

He said there was a point at some time that he would need to get out of jail. That's the closest I can find of what he wants to do. And that makes no sense to me whatsoever.

"You hate to see somebody still stay in jail just because they're so stubborn,"

Yeah, the only question that should concern the police at this point is "Has he served out any sentence for the crimes he has been charged with?"

If the answer is "yes", then it doesn't matter who he is, let him go.

Well yeah it does matter. There are a lot of things that concern the police at this point. Namely identifying the individual. Is he missing from somewhere else (mental hospital, rehab, etc) ? Is he wanted for something else? (child support, fraud, any number of crimes where he doesn't have prints on file)? I'm far from sypathetic for police, but in this case the person in question is being an idiot.

Yeah, the only question that should concern the police at this point is "Has he served out any sentence for the crimes he has been charged with?"

If the answer is "yes", then it doesn't matter who he is, let him go.

Well yeah it does matter. There are a lot of things that concern the police at this point. Namely identifying the individual. Is he missing from somewhere else (mental hospital, rehab, etc) ? Is he wanted for something else? (child support, fraud, any number of crimes where he doesn't have prints on file)? I'm far from sypathetic for police, but in this case the person in question is being an idiot. Name and age are all one needed to give during a foot encounter in PA. Are utah laws different?

Without knowing who he is, how in the **** could they possibly know whether he's served his sentence?

What does it matter if he's missing from somewhere? He seems to be in full possession of his faculties, according to the article. If he's wanted for something else, it's nothing big enough that his fingerprints are on record. All they've got him for is three misdemeanor charges. If he's been incarcerated enough time to have fulfilled his obligation for those charges, all they're doing now is fishing.

Because they've had him in custody the whole time?

Scenario 1) I'm Hannibal. I have no criminal record, but I'm now missing, my family is found dead in my home. People are looking for me to question me. Now the cops pick me up on some stupid tresspassing charge and have me in custody. I refuse to identify. They hold me until I can be identified.

Scenario 2) I'm Hannibal. I'm walking around and decide to do some urban exploring. I get caught and now the cops are holding me on some stupid tresspassing charge. I refuse to identify. They hold me until my identify can be confirmed.

Cops don't determine sentances. It's up to the individual to meet the requirements for release. Like identifying himself. They didn't just snatch him off the street for nothing ala "In the name of the father". He was tresspassing. He's keeping himself in jail by not identifying himself. Name and age. Thats it.

Too bad the guy isn't an illegal immigrant. We wouldn't be able to ask him #### and the Whitehouse would demand his release.

One of the aspects you folks have kind of missed is, though Hannibal kind of touched on it is "does he have any outstanding warrants?" Yeah, we had him and held him for the trespassing charge, but his prints were clean and we had no way of knowing you guys were looking for him.

Another aspect is the criminal record. How do we append the violations to his record if we have no name. Its not just a computer thing, its a long held history thing, does this guy have any priors we should be aware of? Is this a pattern? Would the sentencing be changed if he is mentally ill? Rap sheets have been around for a long long time.


I can see them holding on to him. Without ID and refusing to supply something that they can verify, he is drawing suspicion to himself. Refusing to identify ourselves to legal authority is not one of our rights, unless I've missed something.

The big question is why is he choosing to not identify himself?

If somebody has a criminal record, they are in no danger of going unidentified by law enforcement, is that not so?

Your argument fails on every point with me Shuyung. Try again.