A man walks into EZ Furniture, gets agitated, and threatens to kill the employees

By Travis Uresk

1/12/24

Vernal, Ut.- On 1/4/24, a report came in of a disorderly conduct at EZ Furniture on 1180 North Vernal Ave. Dispatched advised that a male subject had come into the store yelling and screaming, threatening to kill the employees.

Deputy Russell with the UCSO made contact with the complainant by telephone, who stated that the male came into the store and appeared to be homeless.

The complainant stated that the male began to ask about a laptop, and when he was pointed in the direction of the laptops to look at them, the male became upset and asked if anyone would help him.

The complainant said he offered to help him, and the male again became agitated. At this time, the complainant advised the man to leave the store and stated the male began yelling at him and the other employees and threatened to kill them, saying he had PTSD and they needed to help him.

The complainant felt sorry for the man and didn't want to charge him at this time but wanted him to be trespassed from the store. The complainant provided Deputy Russell with a description of the male wearing jeans and boots, carrying a backpack, and carrying a laptop case. The man had left the store and had gone under the bridge to Ashley Creek near the store.

Deputy Russell arrived on the scene, checked the area by the bridge, and found a male subject lying under the bridge who matched the description given by the complainant. The Deputy got closer to the man and made contact with him. Deputy Russell recognized the male subject as 30-year-old Nathan Lee Keser from prior dealing with him.

The Deputy asked Nathan to come out from under the bridge to have a conversation. At this time, Officer Roth and Deputy Helms responded to the scene.

While speaking with Nathan, he was advised that the owner of the store did not want to press charges but wanted him trespassed from the store, meaning he wasn't allowed back to the store. Officer Roth contacted AP&P and found that Nathan was on probation.

Nathan told the Deputies that he had been in a bad place mentally and wanted to be taken to the mental hospital. AP&P requested that Nathan be arrested and booked into jail for a 72-hour hold. Deputy Russell told Nathan that someone would talk to him at the jail about his mental health.

Nathan was searched and became very agitated. He didn't want the Deputy to search him. He was then taken to the Uintah County Jail to be booked on a 72-hour hold.

While at the jail, Nathan was being processed, and the jail staff was searching him and found a small baggie filled with a white powder believed to be meth. The baggie was collected and given to Deputy Ehlers.

Once Nathan had been processed, the Officers returned to the jail's Sally port to do a compliance check of Nathan's belongings; inside the backpack were five glass pipes with an unknown burnt substance and other miscellaneous items.