EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to reflect the correct room in which the suspect locked himself in.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) – A convicted sex offender is facing numerous charges after police say he locked himself on school property with heroin.
David Howarth, 36, was booked into Salt Lake County Jail and is facing third-degree felony charges of burglary, possession of a controlled substance, and two counts of failure to register as a sex offender.
Howarth also faces 13 counts of failure to maintain a current ID card as a sex offender and one count of being in a protected area as a sex offender, both class A misdemeanors.
According to the booking affidavit, Howarth had failed to register his annual registration as a sex offender and failed to update his address at least once within the last six months. As Howarth is a convicted sex offender, he is not allowed to be on school property.
However, this did not stop Howarth from allegedly “unlawfully entering” the school and locking himself in the fire riser room, where he remained, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Police say the incident shows that Howarth has “no regard for the safety of anyone and the fact that he refuses to comply with the sex offender registry requirements, he is a great danger to the public.”
SLCPD confirmed with ABC4 that there were no students on school property at the time of the incident.
