Dakota County copper thefts may be solved

Posted under News,This Week in Dakota County on Thursday 9 September 2010 at 2:38 pm

Report of fire led to arrest of two men

by Laura Adelmann

Thisweek Newspapers

The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two adult males who may be responsible for copper thefts from rural cornfields over the past several weeks.

Responding to a call about a fire in a remote wooded area in the city of Randolph, deputies located rolls of copper wire with the plastic insulation burning.

According to the county, it is common to burn the plastic insulation off of copper before selling it for scrap.

Deputies searched the area and found a 49-year-old man driving a car matching one reported leaving the scene of the fire.

After he was stopped, deputies found a gas can in his possession.

Another 24-year-old man was located walking in the woods near the fire.

Both suspects were arrested and are in the Dakota County Jail.

A sheriff’s office press release states that deputies believe the wire was stolen the evening of Sept. 7 from an irrigation unit in Castle Rock Township.

Investigators are working to determine if the suspects are involved in a number of other copper thefts in rural areas of the county in the past month.

Laura Adelmann is at dceditor@frontiernet.net.

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