Hawkins charged with stealing copper from vacant homes

Police say a West End resident was caught red-handed stealing copper wire from inside the framework of two unoccupied houses, taking his 13-year-old cousin with him to help in the crime.

The suspect, Travis D. Hawkins, 20, is charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools, and theft for allegedly entering two separate unoccupied houses on Winding Way, and taking copper wiring from the structures.

He was caught after residents reported seeing a man and boy lurking around a home on Winding Way. When lawmen arrived, they passed a vehicle which was later described by a witness as being the vehicle which left the scene. Upon being stopped, Hawkins claimed he had dropped a knife in the area and had been out looking for it, explaining his presence near the unoccupied house.

However, a peek inside his vehicle by police revealed suspicious items including things like wire cutters, pliers and a screw driver, along with a quantity of wire. More wire of a different color was also found in the trunk. Hawkins claimed he had gotten the wire from an old car, but police recognized it as coated wiring which is found inside houses.

It was at that point police went to the houses where Hawkins had been seen to find forced entry had been used to get inside the houses, with evidence wiring had been removed from inside. The teen would later admit he was with his cousin as he went into the houses, even under one house, to take the wire.

Hawkins was further implicated by his own mother who came to the scene. Once she was told of the charges against her son, she asked him if he had finished melting down his wiring. She explained he had been selling copper to make ends meet, leading lawmen to believe he had been taking the wiring to sell as scrap copper, a type of theft which has been on the increase with the higher price of copper.