Felon captured in Green River

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On Oct. 10 at approximately 4:42 p.m., Sergeant Mitch Vetere of Emery County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a gas station in Green River to check on a man trying to sell guns to customers. Upon arrival, Sergeant Vetere found a man sitting on the curb and asked him if he was the one trying to sell some guns. The man replied that he was and offered to show Sergeant Vetere the guns he had.
He first removed a fully loaded semi-auto 45 caliber pistol from under the driver’s seat. The man then went to the trunk of the vehicle and removed a semi-auto 22 caliber pistol and a 12 gauge shotgun. Sergeant Vetere then asked the man who the young girl was with him, and he stated that it was his daughter. When Sergeant Vetere asked for identification from the two, he was given a Georgia driver’s license for the male and a Georgia identification card for the young girl. Sergeant Vetere then had Emery County Dispatch run names and guns on N.C.L.C.
While waiting for the results, Sergeant Vetere questioned the male, identified as Charles Mathew Lala III as to why his daughter had a different address than him when both the driver license and the identification card had been issued on Oct. 4, 2002. He stated that it was because she was living with her grandmother.
At this time Emery County dispatch informed Sergeant Vetere that the 45 pistol was listed as stolen out of Florida. Trooper Jason Haywood of the Utah Highway Patrol arrived for back-up, and Lala and the young female were taken to the Emery County Sheriff’s substation. Upon arrival at the substation Sergeant Vetere was advised by dispatch that Lala had 15 felony warrants out of Volusia County, Fla.
Sergeant Vetere was then contacted by a detective from Florida who stated that the young girl with Lala was not his daughter, and that the birth certificate that she had presented to get the Georgia identification card was that of a young girl who had died at the age of four. The young girl had been listed as missing with her true name.
Lala was the transported to Emery County Detention Center in Castle Dale and the young female was transported to the juvenile holding facility.
Lala is facing many charges including federal firearms violations from the Salt Lake City Federal Bureau of Investigation.