By JOHN M. HOOBER III, Staff
A report that "three suspicious males were cutting cables off power poles" sent West Hempfield Township police to Chickies Rock County Park near Route 441 on Tuesday morning.
Police found three teens from Berks County cutting and gathering copper wire cables, Sgt. Russell Geier said.
All three fled on foot, but were located a short time later. And during the investigation, police found lineman gear, such as spiked shoes, used by utility workers.
Police said the teens had scaled old, unusable poles that were about 20-foot high and contained no live wires.
"They definitely knew what they were doing," said Geier.
The poles were located on property owned by Norfolk Southern. The copper that the teens allegedly had cut off the poles was worth more than $1,500, Officer Douglas Ober reported.
Justin M. Shade, 18, of Sinking Spring, and two 17-year-olds from Reading and Mohnton face charges of theft and criminal mischief, police said. Their vehicle was impounded.
In a separate investigation, Lancaster state police arrested an employee of a Salisbury Township service station who allegedly used a customer's credit card to purchase gasoline and cigarettes for himself.
Allen Daniel Moore, 30, of 52-B N. Kinzers Road, Kinzers, was sent to Lancaster County Prison Wednesday morning after failing to post $10,000 bail on access-device fraud charges, Trooper Jason Laudermilch reported.
Charles Stimson, 47, of West Chester, left his Hess credit card at the Hess Express station, 5387 Lincoln Highway, Gap, on Saturday night, Laudermilch said.
Moore allegedly use the card on two occasions early Sunday morning to purchase $30 worth of gasoline and three cartons of cigarettes, police said.
The purchases, which totaled about $167, were made at the register that Moore was assigned to, police learned.
Police arrested Moore on Tuesday. He was brought to Lancaster police headquarters and arraigned by Magisterial Court Judge Kelly Ballentine, who set bail.
