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Three teenagers are facing charges after they were allegedly caught in the act of trying to steal copper tubing and wiring from the old Kmart building, corner of Main St. and Dustman Rd., Thursday night.
Nathan J. Donaghy, 18, of 2406N-Spruce Dr., Bluffton, and Kyle Eschenbacher, 18, of 6347E-1000N, Ossian, are both facing two Class C felony counts of burglary. The third, a 17-year-old whose identity is not being released because of his juvenile status, has been released to his parents with the matter referred to juvenile probation.
According to Sgt. Steve Cale, the incident that led to the arrest of the three unfolded at 11:15 p.m. when the 911 emergency dispatch received a call from an anonymous tipster advising there were three young men at the Kmart store trying to break into the building.
Officers Sgt. Jim Mettler and Brent Garrett responded and located a blue Ford F-150 pickup truck parked behind the former store. Inside the bed of the pickup truck was a large roll of copper wire and wire cutters.
Garrett moved around to the front of the store in time to see three young men walking at a brisk pace northeast from the old store toward McDonald’s next door. Garrett hollered for the men to stop, however, according to Cale, the men kept walking. So Garrett activated the overhead blue and red lights on his patrol car and again identified himself and ordered the three to stop. They complied.
As this was unfolding, assistance was requested from and received by the Wells County Sheriff’s Department, which sent three deputies to the scene.
As Garrett was patting down the three to make sure that they were not armed, he reportedly came across two pairs of electrical pliers in the rear pocket of one of the suspects.
Meanwhile, a check of the license plate on the pickup truck showed that it belonged to Donaghy.
“At some point, our anonymous tipster became known to us and that person came to the Bluffton Police Department and provided us with additional information,” said Cale.
That information included word that the three young men had been planning the theft throughout the week.
Garrett located a boarded up window at the front of the store that had been broken out with pieces of particle board both inside the store and laying on the ground outside. Crime scene technician Sgt. Mike Miller was summoned to the scene.
As officers entered the building, they discovered copper wire and piping stacked up by a back door to the building near where the pickup truck was parked. Next to the copper were a prybar, a large set of bolt cutters and a battery operated reciprocating saw.
The three teens were taken into custody.
“By 3 a.m., we had statements of admission from all three,” said Cale.
The three had reportedly went to the Kmart with the intent to steal the copper to sell to a scrap dealer.
“Copper is going at $2.63 a pound right now and copper is a heavier metal. It doesn’t take a lot of it to make a pound,” said Cale.
The detective added that Donaghy and Eschenbacher admitted that they had been in the building Wednesday night and had stolen about 200 pounds of copper wiring.
“Their plans were to burn the insulation off the wiring and sell it,” Cale added.
He added that all three young men have been cooperative with police.
glenw@news-banner.com
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