Pocatello man charged with five crimes over two days

A Pocatello man is in the Bannock County Jail after being charged with committing five crimes over a two-day period. Police said it all started on Tuesday, Jan. 6 when the suspect went to a home on 8th street while armed with a steel pipe. Police said once at the residence, he kicked in the door.

“From there a physical altercation transpired,” said Lt. Ian Nelson, public information officer for the Pocatello Police Department, “in which case the female that was there did sustain minor injuries.”

Police said the woman is fine, but the man was gone by the time they arrived at the scene. Police said the man intended to burglarize the home.

A short while later the woman noticed there had been damage done to her car, but it wasn’t over.

The next day police said the man used a bag full of accelerants to set her car on fire.

The man, Timothy James Utley, is charged with third-degree arson, malicious injury to property, burglary, stalking and aggravated assault.

Police said it’s important to remember these are charges and nothing has been proven.

“The officers don’t say you’re guilty. That’s not our place,” Nelson said. “They go ahead and do the charge, and then the court system does its thing. He’s not convicted at this point by any stretch of the imagination, just merely charged criminally on it.”

And why was stalking added on to the list of charges? We don’t know if he had been accused of stalking the woman he’s accused of assaulting. Idaho’s stalking statute states any time a deadly weapon or instrument is used, it’s in violation of the law.

The police said the car sustained heavy damage. Combined with breaking in the door, police said Utley caused at least $1,000 in damage.

We do not know how the man and the woman are connected. Utley is currently in the Bannock County Jail and has not posted bond.