Police: Copper theft endangers workers

miket145 · **Posted:** Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:09 pm

Police: Copper theft endangers workers

JOHN J. MOSER
THE MORNING CALL
October 2, 2008

Four Schuylkill County men have been charged with stealing copper wire and tools over the past month from four related industries -- sometimes returning to a business 10 times and even four times in one night to systematically remove metal, according to police.

They removed so much of the grounding wire from the industries that they put the 56 employees, some of whom have contact with the equipment, in danger of death from electric shock, state police at Frackville said.

On one occasion, the men stole more than a mile of heavy copper cable from a business, and on another, one climbed a 40-foot telephone pole to take its wire, police said.

Police said John I. Via, 25, and Corey M. Nevadomsky, 29, both of Shenandoah accessed the sites on four-wheel ATVs owned by and kept at the rental home of Keith D. Benjamin, 24, of 432 E. Lloyd St., Shenandoah. They also used the ATVs to take the metal to sell at scrap facilities, police said.

Police said Benjamin let them used the ATVs in exchange for money and stolen goods.

A fourth man, Ronald L. Bowen, 20, also of Shenandoah, was allegedly sought out by Via to participate in the theft in which he climbed the telephone pole, police said.

Via and Nevadomsky admitted that between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15, they stole from the thermal drying facility and coal processing plant owned by Waste Management Processing Inc. in Mahanoy Township and a Waste Management garage and maintenance facility in Gilberton, both along Route 4030, police said.

The men also allegedly burglarized a large conveyor owned by Gilberton Power Co. that connects it to Waste Management at the top of a mountain in West Mahanoy Township, a large conveyor owned by Schuylkill Energy Resources along Route 54 in Mahanoy Township, and a storage shed on property owned by Headwaters Resources along Route 4030 in Mahanoy Township, police said.

They were probably the guys stealing copper from the Old St. Nick Breaker...
http://www.ironminers.com/mineforum/vie ... 6&start=30

M.T.

Chris · **Posted:** Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:32 am

i saw this on the local news last night. i cant believe how much of this we are seeing these days, and with todays wonderful economy its only going to get worse!

Doug · **Posted:** Fri Oct 03, 2008 10:44 am

It will also cast a shadow on people who might just want to take pictures or look around. Everyone will be a suspect.

Chris · **Posted:** Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:12 am

yea i had a guy contact me about photographing the st nick. i told him to call reading anthracite. they laughed at him and said if he was caught there he would be arrested for trespassing. a few years ago that wasnt the case.

miket145 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:58 pm

Man pleads guilty to stealing copper

BY PETER E. BORTNER
POTTSVILLE REPUBLICAN & HERALD
February 20, 2009

A Shenandoah man will go to prison after pleading guilty Thursday to 80 charges resulting from his participation in several copper thefts in August and September in northern Schuylkill County.

John I. Via, 25, also owes more than $65,000 in restitution under the terms of the sentence imposed by Schuylkill County Judge John E. Domalakes, who lectured Via about his misconduct.

â€œHow are you going to pay this? Do you understand the gravity of what you did?â€

miner490 · **Joined:** Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:32 pm **Posts:** 783

A very dangerous and stupid to make money. A while back a maintaince man at a plant I used to work at ( Compression Polymers) decided to make some money on the side scrapping copper. In an ACTIVE PLANT. wELL END RESULT: He cut into an 880 line. FRIED INSTANTLY!!

Police: Copper theft endangers workers

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