AT&T Copper Thefts Foiled, Four Arrested

June 23, 2011

Four Crestview thieves have been arrested while attempting to steal copper from an Escambia County business.

A Florida Department of Environmental Protection officer was working security at an AT&T facility on Pine Forest Road early Wednesday morning when he observed an attempted copper theft in progress and called the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.  As deputies arrived, they found Hope Dutzman, 20, of Crestview waiting in a vehicle just outside the facility. Inside the facility, they found Marleon Binford, 21, also of Crestview, wearing a black mask over his head. Deputies gave Binford commands to stop, but he jumped a fence and fled.

While deputies waited for a K9 Officer to respond, Binford came back to the scene of the crime claiming that he was only there to pick up his mother’s car. Binford told the deputies on scene that a friend of his in Crestview heard his Mother’s car described over a police scanner and then drove him to Pensacola to retrieve the car. Later, Binford confessed to driving from Crestview with his girlfriend (Dutzman) to steal the copper. Binford told investigators that he heard about the AT&T facility from a friend in Crestview and decided that he would come to Pensacola and take some of the copper because of how easy it was. Binford and Dutzman were both charged with grand theft and burglary.

But deputies said Binford was unaware of the fate of two other individuals from Crestview who also attempted to steal copper from the AT&T facility just a few nights before.

Early last Saturday, Escambia Deputies responded to the same AT&T facility on Pine Forest Road for a possible burglary in progress. Upon arrival, the officers found a DEP Officer with two suspects in custody. The DEP Officer was also working a side job for AT&T when he observed two individuals climb into a bin on the property that contained a large amount of recovered copper wire. The suspects were unaware that anyone was watching them, but as they cut a hole in the fence surrounding the facility, the DEP Officer made his presence known to the suspects and detained them until Escambia County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived.

The suspects, Stephen Chambers, 36, and John Steller, 33, both from Crestview, were taken into custody and booked into the Escambia County Jail under charges of Burglary of a Business, Grand Theft, and Criminal Mischief.

Comments

2 Responses to “AT&T Copper Thefts Foiled, Four Arrested”

  1. T on June 23rd, 2011 5:58 pm

    Statistics show that folks get caught, on average, after their third crime so no telling how many crimes these folks have done. Model Citizens.

  2. greg on June 23rd, 2011 7:18 am

    thieves, dopers, etc. you know these are types. no jobs and not looking for work, just taking from all of us.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News