May 21, 2012 'Hoarder' facing 21 felony charges By TIM GURRISTER Standard-Examiner staff tgurrister@standard.net OGDEN — Detectives are shaking their heads at the discovery of one of the oddest thieves, alleged or otherwise, they've ever handcuffed. The larceny borders on obsessive-compulsive, they say. Brian Michael Davidson, 40, is charged with 21 felonies in eight cases now in 2nd District Court, with charges ranging from theft and burglary to altering VIN numbers. In custody at Weber County Jail, Davidson's next court date is a May 29 status conference before Judge Noel Hyde on the 14 second- degree felonies and seven third-degree felonies, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and five years, respectively. The cases were filed one after the other beginning in February as detectives from four different agencies nailed down the details on all the stolen items allegedly found on Davidson's property. Prosecution began, investigators said, when a Pleasant View man driving by Davidson's Marriott-Slaterville property noticed items he had just reported stolen lying in Davidson's front yard. As search warrants were served and more stolen property identified, detectives from the Weber County Sheriff's Office and the Ogden Police Department were called in, according to court documents and detectives, until three truckloads of stolen property were hauled away. And the state Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division was contacted to process nine vehicles believed stolen. "It's the most baffling thing I've seen in law enforcement," said the MVED's Brandon Noble, now a decade into the profession, including eight years prior with the sheriff's office. "He steals a whole truck just to replace the bumper on another of his stolen trucks." When first on Davidson's acre lot it "feels like a chop shop," Noble said. "But he's just a hoarder. It's like a maze of stolen goods, TVs, stereos, six weed-whackers, when you walk through his home." None of the stolen goods have been found on online classified ad sites or pawn shop databases, Noble said. "He's 40 years old, he probably has an established network of people he sells to," said Weber Sheriff's Lt. Doug Coleman, detective supervisor. "He's kind of a hoarder- thief. He takes things that he doesn't know exactly what to do with, then decides later. He hoards through means we don't approve of." "He may have some kind of disorder. He steal things he's already got in multiples, like a box full of 20 laptop batteries, or 12 shop vacs," said Sheriff's Detective Justin Kelley. "Just really odd. "Like the shop vacs. He said they were left behind from construction sites he worked when the crews packed up. But he could never tell us of any of the companies he worked for." Davidson also cleaned out many of the furnishings from a hotel room at the Comfort Inn on 21st Street on Feb. 17, according to court documents. Davidson kept the key card for the room after he was evicted for failure to pay his bill and returned to steal the items, he admitted, according to a probable cause statement. Security video at the hotel showed Davidson on the premises, but the thefts were not captured on the video, according to the sheriff's office. The room TV, clock, lamps, bedding, a desk chair and other items turned up in his home decor. A Willard man was called by officers to Davidson's home to pick up a motorcycle identified as his. The man identified another motorcycle on the site as his also, Noble said. Employees from a Pleasant View bakery taken to Davidson's yard identified 24 wire baskets used to glaze scones, according to court documents, as well as their missing freezer door. Davidson apparently has had no stable, visible means of employment for years. "Not that we could tell," Noble said. "He said he was doing construction jobs freelance, mostly demolitions, with his $25,000 backhoe. The backhoe is also stolen." Kelley said the only employment he admitted to was the construction work, for which he must have been paid in cash, as he had no paperwork. The backhoe stolen in 2001 was returned to its owner damaged beyond repair, Noble said, and the owner had no insurance. Davidson shows no remorse, Noble said, and offers no cooperation in helping return stolen goods to rightful owners. "He claims he's got titles, billings, receipts for everything, but he hasn't produced them." "Not that I perceived," Kelley said of any Davidson remorse. "He's an intelligent individual. We figure he's supporting a drug habit." Davidson's prior criminal record includes a conviction in Ogden last year for burglary, caught "in a storage unit not belonging to him," according to charging documents, and the unit's contents were found loaded in his truck. Methamphetamine was found on his person upon arrest. He was sent to prison in 2005 for vehicle thefts in West Bountiful. "When we arrested him he was trying to convince a building contractor to take him and his backhoe with them to a job in Texas," Noble said. "He knew he had to get out of Utah." 198