Two men arrested for burglary
By Brian Hasslers, Staff Writer

FARMINGTON—A Chinle man and a Fruitland man were arrested on Sunday in Farmington when police officers caught the two at Hopper Specialty West committing a burglary.

Jonah Yellowman, 33, of Chinle, Ariz., and George Begay, 37, of Fruitland were arrested on Sunday morning at 4:50 a.m. when an officer saw Begay walking out of the north side of Hopper Specialty West . During his conversation with Begay, the officer heard glass breaking from inside the store.
Soon additional officers arrived and surrounded the building, while Begay was detained for possibly being involved in the criminal activities that were taking place.

Upon entering the building, officers found Yellowman lying on the floor in an office and was taken into custody without further incident, though he did attempt to pull away the officers that had him in custody.

"Both men that were apprehended had been drinking," said Lt. Dan Calkins. "We don't know what they were going after, but there were some things that led us to that conclusion."
Among those things were two broken computer monitors, two broken pictures on the wall, a broken paper shredder that had been thrown against a wall and the pictures and a broken fax machine as well.

"There was an open file cabinet with papers everywhere and business checks on the table in the office," said Calkins.

"The plastic on the checks had been ripped open and it appeared as though some of the checks had been removed. The scene was processed and photos were taken and the estimated damage is at least $1,000."

As for criminal charges to be filed, Yellowman was arrested and charged with commercial burglary, conspiracy to commit commercial burglary, criminal damage to property and resisting an officer. Begay was also arrested and charged with commercial burglary and conspiracy to commit commercial burglary.

"There wasn't items outside of the business that led to any conclusions," said Calkins. "But things progressed from the inside of the business. There were broken windows and quite a bit of damage."

Brian Hassler is The Independent's Four Corners reporter based in Shiprock. Contact him at (505) 360-7862 or via email at brianhassler@hotmail.com