Helper Police Department Press Release
On September 4, 2024, the Helper City Police Department was notified of a theft that had occurred at the Helper Mining and Railroad Museum. The original report consisted of a 100-year-old mining hat that was recovered from the Wattis Mine had been stolen from the museum around August 31, 2024. An original investigation was conducted which did not yield any evidence of a suspect of the theft, therefore; assistance was requested by the public through news outlets.
After several news outlets had released information regarding the investigation, information from citizens of the Carbon County area brought information to our attention regarding a juvenile who had stolen the hat from the museum, along with a mining headlamp. Contact with the juvenile and the parent of the juvenile was made and it was discovered the juvenile had stolen the hat and headlamp earlier in the month of August 2024, prior to the 31st.
The parent of the juvenile had discovered the item was stolen, from an unknown location, and discarded several items into the garbage approximately two to three weeks prior. The parent did not find out the item was stolen from the museum until information regarding the theft had been released to the public. Due to the item being thrown in the trash approximately two weeks prior, the item has not been recovered. The identity of the juvenile and their parent will not be released by this department.