FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 5, 2025

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PolicePIO@slc.gov

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SLCPD Arrests Man for Allegedly Damaging Property

SALT LAKE CITY — Officers with the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Homeless Resource Center (HRC) squad safely arrested a 66-year-old man accused of breaking a car windshield.

This investigation started at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, when SLC911 received a call of vandalism just occurred near 1300 South State Street.

The suspect in this case is identified as Fidel Portuondo-Martinez.

Officers responded and found Martinez at Harvard Avenue and State Street holding a knife and a stick. Martinez refused to listen to the officers’ commands to drop the knife and stick. Officers used de-escalation tools to disarm Martinez and safely took him into custody.

Officers booked Martinez into Salt Lake County Metro jail for property damage and destruction, interference with a peace officer, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Charges are only allegations, and every arrested person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Salt Lake City Police Department is not the custodian of record for jail booking photos. Utah Code 17-22-30 mostly prohibits the release of jail booking photos. Generally, a jail booking photo can only be released by the custodian of record after a conviction or when law enforcement determines the person is a fugitive or an imminent threat to a person or public safety. In Salt Lake City, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office is the custodian of record for jail booking photos.

The Salt Lake City Police Department’s Homeless Resource Center Squads are designed to help improve the safety and overall well-being of both the unsheltered and the surrounding community at, and around, the Gail Miller Resource Center and the Geraldine E. King Women’s Resource Center. The department seeks balance in its duties to enforce the law, prioritize public safety, and reduce victimization while simultaneously demonstrating compassion and empathy for the city’s unsheltered community. Each homeless resource center has a squad of one SLCPD sergeant and five SLCPD officers. These officers take calls for service around the resource centers to help patrol officers, serve as conduits to essential needs such as healthcare, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment, and to help foster positive relationships between law enforcement and the unsheltered community. The two squads became fully operational on July 9, 2023, and are grant funded through the State of Utah.

The information contained in this news release is based on a preliminary review of the details available to the Salt Lake City Police Department. As the investigation progresses, information may change.

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