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Man Arrested, Another Sought In Railroad Copper Wire Theft
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Published: January 15, 2008
TAMPA - TAMPA - TAMPA A man was arrested and deputies are looking for another stemming from the theft of 8,000 feet of copper signal wire from CSX railroad tracks on Saturday.
David Weber, 46, was charged with grand theft, interference with railroad track equipment, interference with railroad signs and criminal mischief. He is being held at Orient Road Jail with bail set at $50,000.
The wire was taken from CSX property at Causeway Boulevard and Gelman Place at 8:26 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The wire is valued at more than $53,000.
Weber and the other suspect removed the copper wire and it led to train delays, deputies said. The wires are used to communicate with train operators from Jacksonville. A witness watched as Weber and the other man hid the copper wire in the woods, deputies said.
Deputies set up a perimeter and arrested Weber. Authorities are searching for the other man described as a white male, 30 to 40 years old, about 5 feet 9 inches, 170 to 190 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a red T-shirt and blue jeans.
Tribune staff report
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( liamrite ) on January 15, 2008 at 9:07 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Loser.
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Posted by ( good_ole_boy ) on January 15, 2008 at 9:22 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
The risk that they put people in by stealing this wire is just stupid...can we tie them to the trcks and just let the train do them in
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Posted by ( GF ) on January 15, 2008 at 9:27 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
c'mon folks, these guys have to get their meth money somewhere. What better place that the railroad. We will just have to stop at all the crossings to make sure that we don't get hammered by the Amtrak. A small price to keep these aholes high.
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Posted by ( StPetePilot ) on January 15, 2008 at 11:52 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Heh Heh Heh.... As a Plumber, I gather copper and brass scraps all year long. At the end of the year, My daughter and I cash it all in for Christmas "Fun" money. We get maybe 3 or 4 hundred bucks, no big deal. She is wide-eyed at all the losers who make their living by recycling metal... Then we read about these guys who spend HOURS just to steal $40 worth of copper. Jeez, spend that time productively, and you'd be better off, making lots more money.... It's not rocket science. A good lesson for my daughter. Make a legitimate, honest living and you will go far. Depend on the Government, and you will end up having aluminum and copper ruling your life.
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Posted by ( JOE_FARRELLY ) on January 16, 2008 at 4:37 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
CSX Railroad should start using a copper marking program that CRIMESTOPPERS in Australia have recently started to prevent the theft of copper from power companies, rail and public utilities. It's an invisable chemical barcode that is simply sprayed
onto copper and can then be read with a simple hand held scanner. Even if the copper is burnt the scanner will still be able to identify where the copper came from.
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