Copper thieves given three years each

Two men who stole thousands of dollars worth of copper from a local factory were given three-year sentences.

The defendants, Louis J. McElroy and James Nichols, were both given three-year sentences on charges of theft and burglary. McElroy will serve his with the Department of Corrections, while Nichols will be on house arrest with the community corrections program.

The men were among a group which burglarized TENAC in Morrison in August 2006, targeting the company?s stockpiled copper and aluminum which the men intended to sell for profit. The burglary came at a time when copper prices were high, prompting an outbreak of such burglaries across the country.

In the case of the TENAC heist, the two crawled under the perimeter fence and used a forklift to transport the heavy metal to the fence. They then used a winch mounted on a 1966 Ford pickup to lift the bundles over the fence and into the bed of the truck. One of the bundles weighed more than 2,000 pounds. The crime itself was committed in broad daylight after the business had closed for the day.

The suspects were caught a short time later, the stolen metal still in their possession, after a witness got their tag number and contacted the sheriff?s department. In total, TENAC estimated the stolen metal was worth about $5,000.