Salt Lake Telegram | 1936-04-23 | Page 22 | Sleuth Pursues Crooks via Junk Yards Trail

Sleuth Pursues Crooks Via Junk Yards Trail 1 r rf 4 r rJ f J S 'S i it j t a t f a sec fr yea a n Detective John J. J Roberts Robert He works work in junkyards junk yards By BILL L Other policemen may spend their time stalking dangerous criminals holding sack on gang hideouts and waging gun battles with desperados desperados des des- but theres there's little romance in tho the life liCo of ot Detective John J J. J Roberts Roberts Jr Ho He works In junk yards Yet largely through Detective Roberts' Roberts patient efforts automobile automo automobile bile bUo thefts have been reduced by in in the last year ear automobile accessories thefts have been cut 25 per cent and juvenile thieves thieves' thieves find find it almost impossible to use Junk dealers as fences for their purloined purloined pur pur- goods Besides if Ie neighbors back baci in Keokuk Keokuk Keokuk Keo- Keo kuk want to tell Mr and Mrs Billingsgate Bil Dil- that they forgot to have havethe havethe havethe the milkman stop deliveries rIes while they are touring out west Detective Detective Detective Detec Detec- tive Roberts can lay hands on them if it they're stopping at a camp in Salt SnIt Lake City Besides making the rounds of seven junk yards daily dally Detective Roberts visits nine second-hand second stores and U 14 tourist camps The officer has been on his beat since 1929 when a ring qt qC automobile automobile automobile automo automo- bile thieves working through junk junkyards junkyards yards was broken Thieves used 1 to buy the certificates of oC title junk dealers found in cars purchased for tor wrecking but new legislation put a astop astop stop to all that A junk dealer must obtain a 0 permit from Detective Roberts Issued by the state tax x commission for every car he wants to wreck If a motor is to be resold a motorized receipt must be obtained and turned over to the tax commission with a duplicate of the wrecking permit Detective Roberts Roberta has been active also in curtailing theft of fixtures from Unoccupied buildings He has urged owners to establish means of oC identifying fixtures' fixtures that they can be detected when they turn up in junk yards Auto camp operators are required to keep an elaborate set of records similar to hotel registers but with more detailed information This practice tends to curb use of tourist tourist tourist tour tour- camps by fleeing criminals I