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A Raton man was jailed for allegedly stealing about 9,000 feet of copper wire used to carry power to railroad signals in the Msxwell area, The Raton Range reported.
Mark D. Armstrong, 46, allegedly used a homemade rope-and-hook mechanism to pull down the wire from numerous spots between utility poles along Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks from Maxwell to the south, The Range said.
Documents filed by BNSF police said about 910 pounds of wire was stolen and that Armstrong allegedly sold the copper to a Pueblo, Colo., metal scrap yard for $2,737, the paper reported.
Investigators believe Armstrong stole the wire on two nights in early February, according to The Range.
BNSF officials were notified electronically of a “line wire interruption” in the early morning hours between Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 and again around 7 p.m. Feb. 3, according to court documents. The missing wire caused a power outage to railroad signals, investigators determined.
Armstrong was being held last week at the Vigil-Maldonado Detention Center in Raton on a $10,000 cash-only bond, facing charges of criminal damage to property and criminal trespass.
