Man sentenced to prison for driving getaway car while trying to rob Cedar City jewelry store

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Eric Resma was sentenced to one to 15 years for Cedar City robbery attempt after accepting plea deal.
• Charges say Resma drove the getaway car, while Erik Rasmusson broke into the store with a crowbar, but the store's owner confronted them.
• A warrant is still out for Rasmusson's arrest.

CEDAR CITY — A man has been sentenced to prison after admitting to attempting to steal from a jeweler in Cedar City.

Charges said officers believed $70,000 worth of jewelry was stolen on July 27, 2025, although much of it was recovered with the help of the store's owner.

The man who was sentenced, Eric Resma, was the driver, and another man named Erik Rasmusson broke the glass on the store's front door and a display case with a crowbar and loaded contents into a backpack, charges claim. The owner, who lived above the store, confronted Rasmussen, who then hit him with the crowbar, they said.

The store owner attempted to identify the driver of the car by leaning inside the vehicle. As Resma began to drive away, the owner managed to get out as it was leaving, according to charges. The store owner then followed the car onto the freeway and reported to officers that he saw the individuals drop a backpack out of the car.

An officer with Iron County attempted to stop the car on the freeway, and Resma's car lost control. He was found hiding in bushes nearby and was arrested, charges said.

Resma, 48, was sentenced on June 23 to two terms of one to 15 years in prison for attempted aggravated burglary and theft, second-degree felonies, and zero to five years in prison for aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.

Fifth District Court Judge Meb Anderson ordered his sentences to run concurrently, meaning he will spend a maximum of 15 years in prison and a minimum of one year. He was also ordered to pay back $22,221 to Clark and Lindford Jewelers along with Rasmussen.

He pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal that reduced the primary charge from aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, reduced the aggravated assault charge from a second-degree felony to a third-degree felony, and dismissed charges for failing to stop for police, unauthorized possession of property, third-degree felonies, and possessing burglary tools and drug paraphernalia misdemeanors.

In a letter to the judge regarding his sentence, Resma said during his time in jail he has learned how his actions affect others — including the victims and his family members. He talked about his family sticking by him through his drug addiction, and finding a religious-based program in the jail that is helping him address the addiction.

"I don't want to be that person anymore and live that kind of life," he said.

Resma's wife was charged with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, in a related case, but prosecutors dismissed the charge on June 9.

Rassmusson, 45, was not immediately identified by police or arrested. Charging documents said he ditched his shoes and asked someone at a home for shoes, then hid in bushes from officers and a searching helicopter before asking another person to drive him to St. George and then a friend to drive him to Las Vegas.

He was charged with aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony; aggravated assault with serious injury and theft, second-degree felonies; property damage, unauthorized possession of property, possession or use of a controlled substance, failure to respond to officer's signal to stop, third-degree felonies; failure to stop at the command of a law officer, a class A misdemeanor; and unlawful manufacture or possession of burglary tools and possession of drug paraphernalia, class B misdemeanors.

His case was filed in August 2025, and a warrant was soon issued for his arrest, which is still outstanding.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Emily Ashcraft

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Emily Ashcraft is a reporter for KSL. She covers issues in state courts, health and religion. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.