Orange police early Saturday morning caught another suspect in stealing aerial cables containing copper. Officer M.S. McDonald reported he found the man near a Jeep with power tools inside and about more than 100 feet of cable stretched along the street.
He arrested 42-year-old Clifford Byron Stephenson of Orange for the state jail felony of copper theft. An AT&T employee told police the cut cables, including optic fiber lines, were worth about $3,500.
McDonald reported a call came at 5:50 a.m. Saturday about someone possibly cutting cables at Allie Payne Road and Pine Needle Drive and a Jeep was nearby with its lights off.
The officer said when he arrived, he saw cables hanging down as if they had been pulled. He also noticed the cables had been cut in several places.
After spotting the Jeep, the officer went up and saw it had a long ladder inside, along with ropes and power tool batteries. A 20-volt reciprocating saw was in the front seat attached to a battery with the trigger unlocked. In addition, he heard rustling in the adjacent woods.
McDonald then found a man lying down in the line of trees to the woods. The man told the officer he had seen the cables and was trying to move the cable from the roadway. The officer said the man could not explain why he had been hiding.
Another copper cable theft was reported Friday afternoon in the 2900 block of Enner Road off the Interstate 10 frontage road east of 16th Street. Police were called about 3:30 p.m. and found about 450 feet of cable that had been cut was lying in the road. Some cable was missing from the lines.
And on Friday evening, a mailed package was reported stolen from a house in the 3300 block of Montrose Street in the Pinemont subdivision.
A burglary broke into a house in Roselawn in the middle of the night. Police got a 911 call to the 500 block of Bluebonnet because someone was ringing the door bell at 12:50 a.m. Saturday. Officer D.A. Myers reported that when he arrived, he saw a person wearing a hoodie sweatshirt running away. However, because of the dark and foggy night, he could not see any of the person’s features.
Detective Lieutenant Jonathan Baggett said a mother and young children were inside. A child had a minor scratch after being hit by the front door as it was forced open. Nothing was stolen.
A Sulphur, Louisiana, man was seriously injured early Saturday morning when the pickup truck crashed through a guardrail and the hit a tree.
The crash was reported at 12:20 a.m. Saturday by Lions Den Park in the 1700 block of Main Avenue. The guardrail was along the side of the road going to the Adams Bayou bridge.
Police report a 2004 Chevrolet C1500 was traveling westbound on Main. The driver failed to control the speed of the truck at the curve to the bridge and went through the guardrail.
The driver, 33-year-old Travis J. Shrader, sustained incapacitating injuries. He was taken by Acadian Ambulance to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont.
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