Glad one of these got caught, but its remarkable how little he made on it compared to the cost to the public of his doings. Sentencing in Largest Wire Theft in State History: State v. Donald Turpin: A local man was sentenced last month to nearly 12 ½ years in prison for stealing 4.3 miles of copper wiring from the Sound Transit Light Rail System. A jury convicted Donald Howard Turpin, 55, of Burglary Second Degree, Theft First Degree with a metal theft aggravator, Trafficking in Stolen Property First Degree, and Leading Organized Crime. It’s considered the largest known metal theft in Washington State. A co-defendant, Lee Russell Skelly, 45, pled guilty to Theft First Degree. Turpin was also ordered to pay over $1.3 million in restitution to Sound Transit. The defendants committed the thefts by entering maintenance hatches in a tunnel that runs below the elevated portion of the light rail between the SeaTac and Rainer Beach rail stations. They would remove the copper wire, which was designed to ground “stray voltage” in the track system, by using standard bolt cutters. The investigation focused on Turpin after detectives found DNA evidence on items in the tunnel. Turpin made approximately $50,000 in profit. Turpin had a state issued business license which would allow him to scrap the metal with little if any scrutiny by the scrap metal buyers. The replacement cost of the 55,000 pounds of copper wire was estimated at over $1.3 million; the copper itself was worth over $200,000.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 16:09:37 +0000
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