Alleged Hatchet Wielding Man Indicted for Multiple Federal Crimes

Salt Lake City, Utah – A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City returned an indictment today charging a Salt Lake County man with multiple violent crimes after he allegedly stole from a dollar store and a jewelry business while armed. 

According to court documents, on May 6, 2023, Carlos Anthony Martinez, 24, of Salt Lake City, robbed, at gunpoint, a dollar store employee in Grantsville, Utah, of money and merchandise. 

On May 26, 2023, Martinez allegedly entered Fred Meyer Jewelers inside Smith’s Marketplace in Bountiful. Martinez carried a hatchet in one hand and a handgun in the other and smashed the top of a glass display case with the hatchet. At this time, an employee confronted Martinez and Martinez pointed the handgun in the employee’s direction. Martinez stole jewelry and ran out of the store, leaving the hatchet on the display case. Bountiful Police officers responded to the scene and searched for Martinez. Martinez was arrested April 15, 2024, following a signed arrest warrant by the court. 

Martinez is charged with interference with commerce by robbery, and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. His initial court appearance on the indictment is April 26, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. in courtroom 8.4. before a U.S. Magistrate Judge at the United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.  

U.S. Attorney, Trina A. Higgins, of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated jointly by an FBI Task Force Officer with the Salt Lake City Police department, investigators from the Department of Public Safety State Bureau of Investigation, and other officers from the Utah Highway Patrol and Bountiful Police Department. 

Assistant United States Attorney Carlos A. Esqueda of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah is prosecuting the case. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.