By Tracie Sullivan, For Iron County Today
The break-in was fast and violent — glass shattered, a man was beaten, and $70,000 in jewelry vanished before sunrise in Cedar City.
Police arrested 47-year-old Eric Drexel Resma on Sunday, July 27, after he and an unidentified suspect allegedly broke into Clark & Linford Jewelers on North Main Street and attacked the store owner with a crowbar-style weapon during the burglary.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the arrest, Resma drove the getaway vehicle while his accomplice smashed through the glass door and began stuffing a military-style camouflage backpack with jewelry.
“The vehicle pulls up to the front of Clark and Linford Jewelers a second male (unknown at this time) gets out of the passenger side of the vehicle and comes to the front door of the business and breaks the front door glass,” charging documents state. “He then enters the Jewelry store through the broken door.”
The store owner, who lives in an apartment above the shop, heard the crash and ran downstairs to confront the intruder.
“He is hit with the crowbar type weapon and thrown to the ground,” charging documents state. “The owner gets back up and is hit again.”
Wounded but not deterred, the owner ran outside and leaned into the suspect vehicle to try to identify the driver. Resma allegedly hit the gas with the man still clinging to the car. The victim managed to free himself before the vehicle sped off.
Shortly after the break-in, a Southern Utah University police officer spotted the SUV driving without lights and attempted a traffic stop. The license plate was partially covered with a pair of underwear, according to police. The driver — later identified as Resma — refused to stop and sped off.
Meanwhile, the store owner got into his own vehicle and began searching the area. He eventually spotted the suspects heading south on Interstate-15 and followed them while contacting law enforcement. During the pursuit, he saw the vehicle slow briefly to toss a camo backpack out the window — a key piece of evidence later recovered by officers.
Inside the backpack, officers found stolen jewelry with price tags still attached, along with small store display fixtures from Clark & Linford.
The chase ended when the suspects crashed on a frontage road along southbound I-15 — described in charging documents just off Exit 30, near Pintura. Both men fled on foot. Officers found Resma hiding nearby; the second suspect escaped and remains at large.
“We still have officers following some leads,” Cedar City Public Information Officer Sgt. Kirk Lovell said Thursday.
Inside the crashed vehicle, officers recovered additional jewelry, methamphetamine, a glass pipe, a crowbar, and a sledgehammer. The storefront and display cases sustained more than $1,500 in damage, police said.
Resma, who investigators say drove across three states to commit the crime, was booked into the Iron County Jail on felony charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, theft, drug possession, and fleeing police. Officers have requested he be held without bail, citing a high risk of flight.