3 teens arrested in connection to broken windows at 14 Latter-day Saint meetinghouses

ST. GEORGE, Utah — Police say three teenagers have been arrested after several meetinghouses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were vandalized in Washington County last week.

Officials with the St. George Police Department said six buildings had their windows broken on July 20. A witness reported seeing several people at a meetinghouse located at 3891 E. Desert Canyons Parkway and provided a very specific vehicle description and descriptions of the suspects.

After hearing about the vandalism in St. George, Dan Raddatz, public information officer for the Hurricane Police Department, said officers started checking churches in their area.

He said between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., they discovered two locations had been hit — one with one window broken and the other with two windows broken. He added that the exterior pane of glass on double pane windows was broken, leaving no interior damage.

Overall, officers found 14 meetinghouses were damaged in St. George, Hurricane and Washington City.

St. George police said they received a tip a few days later regarding social media messages between several adults and juveniles that identified the three suspects.

Two teens were interviewed and police say they admitted to their involvement in the vandalism. One of the teens, 18-year-old Nathan Monroy, was booked into jail on a second-degree felony count of criminal mischief. The other teen, an unidentified 17-year-old, was booked into juvenile detention on the same charge.

Officers with the Washington City Police Department later located and arrested another adult, 18-year-old Zachary Steele. He was also booked into jail on the same charge.