Men try to steal live power lines

[alaskaguy]

Two Somerset County men are charged with trying to steal live power lines that were still attached to a transformer and utility poles.


Police said Kevin Lee Lytle, 27, and Daniel Jay Basinger, 24, both of Confluence, were shocked during the theft attempt on May 3 in Lower Turkeyfoot Township.

Both were charged Wednesday, but only Basinger was well enough to attend his arraignment on the attempted theft charge.
Police say the incident disrupted power to area residences for about five hours. Penelec Power Co. owns the lines which suffered $1,500 damage.

Link:
Police say men trying to steal power lines shocked

[jbhtexas]

Wholesale copper theft has been going on down here for over two years...they steal condensing coils, condensing units, any kind of external copper pipe or tubing, the big honkin' multipair telephone communication cables, cable TV cables, power lines, electrical boxes, etc. They break into construction sites and steal the copper plumbing out of unfinished buildings. They take anything that might have a hint of copper. The losses have run into the millions of dollars.

My company builds heat transfer equipment and people have been caught trying to break into our place for copper (ex-employee one of the times).

The local governments are passing laws trying to require the scrap yards to buy scrap copper only from registered sellers. We'll see if it works.

[Cyclonepride]

Ha ha........I knew when I saw the headline, it wouldn't end well.

[Phaedrus]

"Bubba" is my flippin' hero....

Note the use of middle names: "Kevin Lee" and "David Jay". I used to have an article somewhere that commented on the use of middle names in "Darwin Award" candidates.

As in "Kevin Lee, you hold this here ladder fer me, as a cut these here wars"

[hort4cy]

Both were charged Wednesday....

That says it all.

[mramseyISU]

Didn't a couple guys down by Indianola get killed last summer doing this?

[clonefarmer]

Originally Posted by mramseyISU

Didn't a couple guys down by Indianola get killed last summer doing this?

I seem to remember one guy getting killed. I think he was using some kind of power saw to cut through like a 7200 volt line although I might be wrong on the voltage. Neighbors had reported hearing a power saw making a terrible racket.

Stories about idiots like this always make me think about their parents. Imagine finding out that your kid is not only a thief, but an incredibly stupid one at that.

[IsUaClone2]

Originally Posted by clonefarmer

I seem to remember one guy getting killed. I think he was using some kind of power saw to cut through like a 7200 volt line although I might be wrong on the voltage. Neighbors had reported hearing a power saw making a terrible racket.

Stories about idiots like this always make me think about their parents. Imagine finding out that your kid is not only a thief, but an incredibly stupid one at that.

My guess is that their parents were surprised only if the parents were as stupid as their offspring. In all likelihood this was no surprise.

[jdoggivjc]

Lawsuit against power company forthcoming. Obviously it was the power company's fault because they put up something so hazardous as power lines and they didn't do enough to prevent their kids from trying to hack into it causing them to seriously hurt/kill them in the process...

[IsUaClone2]

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Lawsuit against power company forthcoming. Obviously it was the power company's fault because they put up something so hazardous as power lines and they didn't do enough to prevent their kids from trying to hack into it causing them to seriously hurt/kill them in the process...

Unfortunately that is too true.

[cgwarrior33]

Apparently meth is a helluva drug...just plain sad.

[Cy Heavy]

Natural selection can be amusnig...

[ISUFan22]

Someone needs to get some video of this and get it uploaded - because that HAD to be amusing to watch.