By Jessie Elder
It's back to the slammer for Irish impersonator Joshuah Shelley, 32, who was apprehended Friday (July 14, 2006) in Pocatello, Idaho.
Shelley fled to Idaho after allegedly lifting $7,000 of his Provo roommates' belongings under a fake identity on July 3.
Police identified Shelley when suspicions lead them to run a check on the car he had been driving, and sure enough it checked out as a stolen car - taken recently from a girl in Colorado.
When police showed up at the Rexburg apartment where Shelley had been staying, he snuck out the back window and into a different apartment, where he slept that night in a vacant closet, said Rexburg police captain Randy Lewis.
Shelley had been staying in the Rexburg apartment under the same identity he had used to con his Provo roommates - a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Ireland and an ex-BMX biker.
Some of Shelley's Provo roommates' stolen goods were found in the Rexburg apartment, and Provo police captain Rick Healey said it is up to them to pick it up.
With the stolen car recovered by police, Shelley then stole another car from a roommate and drove himself to Pocatello.
Tips led Idaho police to Idaho State University in Pocatello where it is assumed Shelley was plotting to strike again, according to Pocatello police captain Kirk Nelson.
When Shelley pulled up to the Pocatello apartment, police were waiting for him.
Shelley was arraigned Monday on charges of grand theft by possession of a stolen vehicle and grand theft by possession of a stolen credit card.
The credit card was allegedly stolen from a woman's purse in Idaho Falls and was used to make fraudulent purchases in a Pocatello Fred Meyer store, Nelson said.
The multiple-offender is in Bannock County Jail without bond and will likely face more charges.
Shelley is also facing charges in Colorado for stealing a car and probation violation, California for larceny and Utah for theft.
'They've got their cases and we've got ours,' Healey said. When the Idaho police are done with him, Shelley will be bounced around to the others who have warrants for his arrest.
'I hope they all get a good piece of this fellow,' Nelson said. 'He looks like he's a one man crime wave.'