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Man Charged With Stealing Water Service From The Town Of Century
July 26, 2017
A Century man has been arrested for stealing water.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 400 block of Barnwell Street where Century Water Superintendent Alicia Jernigan stated that the residence had been connected to the town’s water supply without a meter since 2013. The following day, the utilities department dug in the road and discovered a second water pipe connected from their system to the house.
Jernigan told deputies that $2,847.32 of water had been stolen from the Town of Century.
Willie Owens, Sr., the owner of the residence, was arrested on a charge of theft of utility services. He was later released from the Escambia County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
Comments
22 Responses to “Man Charged With Stealing Water Service From The Town Of Century”
Go to bed, David! Lol That’s exactly what I said! However, they would have to see how many plumbing fixtures, tenants, etc for that house and then find opener households with that same combination for each month. I doubt very seriously that they know that information.
REGARDING:
“there would be no LOGICAL algorithm with which to estimate how much water had been used at that home over any period of time, unless they determined how many people were in the home for each month that water was consumed and then took an average of each of those months’ bills for OTHER households with the same number of inhabitants and added those amounts together. Are you seriously going to try to tell me that was done?”
Sure there would.
It wouldn’t be that hard to do, even though figuring it out to the penny is unreasonable — even if logical. Margin of error is too wide. Just round up to the nearest thousand.
Other records would tell how long he was living there, the number of residents should be known, average annual residential usage under those conditions can be estimated from records of those NOT stealing water under similar conditions. Basic rate and charge for any given monthly consumption is very simple.
He can dispute the proper size of the bill in court by proving them wrong if he wishes or convince a jury he is innocent altogether.
David for reasonable guesses, juries, and jailers
Mr Reality,
Here’s a dose of that reality for you:
1) I don’t live ‘up there’, so something in the water would not affect me.
2) The article actually says that the house was hooked to the town water system WITHOUT a meter, so there would be no LOGICAL algorithm with which to estimate how much water had been used at that home over any period of time, unless they determined how many people were in the home for each month that water was consumed and then took an average of each of those months’ bills for OTHER households with the same number of inhabitants and added those amounts together. Are you seriously going to try to tell me that was done?
3) I misspoke in my previous comment. The article states that there WAS no meter for any water to have gone through. If there was no meter there, how did that escape the attention of town employees before now?
4) Nowhere does it say if this man LIVED at that residence, only that he OWNED it. Did he rent it out? If so, he would not have known if the tenants were paying a bill.
5) Did he own it at the time the line was installed? If not and he didn’t live in the home, he would not have known.
6) There is a lot of information not included in the article that WOULD answer those questions, but since it is NOT there, we cannot make ASSUMPTIONS about what the entire truth of the situation is.
7) The true reality here is that there is a lot of missing information and yet you chose to make a condescending reply to my questions in which you implied that I lacked intelligence. The problem here is not my intelligence. It is the better than others attitude that you mistakenly have.
Please Mr Reality don’t be so uppity. Nowhere in the article does it say there was a meter with water running through it. The man was arrested for using a service that did not have a meter. How the town calculated his bill was not mentioned. So please don’t be so condescending of people you don’t know. The truth is you are doing as exactly what other folks are doing, you are assuming, and , well we know what happens when you do that.
I suggest this man sues the city of century
They’re literally lying about what and how he was
Supposedly done just doesn’t add up
This is a lawsuit
I would like this news source to give us a full interview with Me. Jernigan. I think this will help may out the line of events, what lead to the arrest, and will inform the citizens. I don’t trust our Mayor to tell the truth. I know this town enough to know there is a lot not being told. If we can hear from the utilities superintendent we all will have the facts that if reported may tell us all that has gone on. This under the road stuff is not the missing pieces to this story. I’ve learned of many drug lords who refuse to pay for things and bribe city officials and threate
Dirtyred…free water to homes? Lol..who pays for it? Santa claus? Maybe the easter bunny? No…mr rork from fantasy island….de plane de plane
Jeez…is it something in the water up there? You people cant understand basic simple logic….if a meter was hooked up guess what it regestered how much water went thru so duhhhh…they can figure out the bill…if no water went thru the meter to be measured, they would take a historical montly average that was on record, then multiply that by he number of months that they havent paid…its pretty simple to figure out how they came up with the amount, if you just stop and think…
The article states that the house had been connected to the water supply with a meter. It does NOT say whether any water was going through the meter or if it was being paid for.
If he was paying a bill, I could understand not knowing that a second line also brought water into the house. Unless he crawled under his home or had a plumber do that and tell him that water was coming from two sources, I really don’t see how he could have known.
I also don’t understand how anyone can put a dollar amount on what went into the home through the unmetered second line. There is no way to determine how much water went in that way as opposed to through the meter.
I also fail to see how anyone could think that he dug the second line out from under the road. That was obviously done by town employees.
The only good thief is a thief behind bars. Though should not steal say it in the Bible
Rome still owns the water. There should be a minimal amount that’s free to homes. After that amount should cost. If people don’t have the money and live without water, a horrible condition is created.
I have to say alot of people do not get it. This man bypassed the city…they asked him to stop…he did not. If our mayor is going to make it right he’d present all the facts. I know there are more facts. I am one of the few who know Alicia Jernigan did it by the book. There are photos, journaled facts, and records of this ongoing theft. What is the real question is why wouldn’t a citizen be expected to pay when it was clearly proven he stole. PROVEN. Furthermore does the mayor want this story to go on when he knows the whole truth? Stand up for those who are doing right.
I hope he pays his dues. People steal and we pay for it. It is not right. The water costs will rise if people don’t pay. I’ve lived here a long time and can say this is a corrupt place and I think the mayor needs to stand up against this. This is how drug dealers do and it is wrong! Pay your bill dont steal!
Good job city. Quit making excuses for a thief. If his meter was locked and he had service it was illegal. He knew it. I am guessing he’s not the only one. If more had been caught earlier the honest folks in century might not be paying higher water bills.
LETS SEE WHAT HAPPENS THERE IS ALWAYS THREE SIDES OF THE STORY HIS THIERS AND THE TRUTH LETS SEE WHAT HAPPENS !!!!!!!!
REGARDING:
“If the guy had no meter for years, ”
It says he DID have a meter.
Sometimes the town or water service makes a connection and it is discontinued for non-payment or other reasons. It is turned off and locked out. A thief will cut the lock and turn the service back on. If the thief pulls the cover and/or covers it with dirt, it might be forgotten.
Thieves steal from everybody.
David for better people
I would imaging the connection under the road was actually installed by the Town of century as some point in the past and the meter removed years ago, whether as wrongdoing or by the city
This is a weird case. both Advocate and Sumthin’ Aint right make good points. I have worked for a pluming company and connected water to the main. It is not an easy thing to do. Let alone doing it under a road. The city main is under alot of pressure you just drill a hole in that thing and its going to come gushing out. Plus down to the penny. Come on.
Before being the judge, jury, and executioner, let’s examine this. First, the second connection was in the road. One does not simply dig up the road overnight and install a new connection to a live water line and not be seen. Could it be that the town made a mistake and installed two connections? Could it also be that there was a previous connection and a new one was installed and the owner was using the existing connection. My, how quick we are to publicly shame one another.
If the guy had no meter for years, how can they charge him with such a specific water loss amount down to the penny?
These unauthorized and unprofessional connections endanger everyone with contamination and intrusion of pathogens into the water system.
The citizens of the town of Century are fortunate to have Utilities Superintendent Alicia Jernigan, on the ball and willing to continue to work and push forward on behalf of the greater good. Thank you for your willingness to go to bat for us.
Thieves such as this make the others stakeholders (townspeople on the utility) rates go up by not pulling their share of the load.
Sue him for that amount and put it in our fund unless he wants come up with it on his own. Perhaps the judges should start demanding restitution to the victims.