A suspected copper thief suffered electrical flash burns and left nearly 4,000 Progress Energy customers without power late Monday night when he attempted to cut a high voltage power line in Kinston. Burnt clothing, a charred hat and a pair of bolt cutters remained at the Progress Energy substation on Bill Smith Road when electrical engineers with the power company arrived to investigate an outage that spanned from Cove City to Moss Hill and lasted more than three hours in some communities, said Scott Sutton, a spokesman for Progress Energy. Detectives with the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office traced the burned bandit who allegedly tried to rip copper wiring from a 230-kilovolt transmission line to a regional hospital, Sutton said. “I was absolutely surprised to hear that a body was not found at the substation,” said Maj. Chris Hill, chief of administrations at the sheriff’s office. Hill would not release the would-be copper thief’s name nor confirm what hospital he or she is receiving treatment for their injuries. Hill would only say “a suspect has been identified in this matter, but the investigation continues.” Hill did not say if or when the suspect would be charged for the attempted crime. Sutton said the first call of the power failure came in around 10:45 p.m. from a home along Old U.S. 70 East near Cove City. Security personnel with Progress Energy turned over the evidence recovered at the scene and the investigation to the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office at about 12:30 a.m., Hill said. The two teams of investigators said the alleged burglar unlawfully entered the perimeter by cutting a lock off the west end of the substation’s barbed wire gate and then attempted to remove a copper ground cable from a transformer. The failed incision “energized” the suspect, causing him to endure burns and other injuries, Hill said. Sutton said it set off a series of power outages in Craven and Lenoir counties until 2:10 a.m. when the final batch of homes and businesses had electricity restored. “This is an important reminder of the danger of our equipment and why we have fences covered in barbed wire to keep people out,” Sutton said. “Everybody should heed the appropriate warnings and not mess with this highly energized equipment.” Power went off in as many as 3,200 businesses and homes in Lenoir County and 700 in Craven County, Sutton said. In Lenoir County, about 1,800 customers had their lights back on by 1 a.m., while 1,000 consumers had to wait until 1:30 a.m. and the remaining 400 could not get their power back until 2:10 a.m. According to Progress Energy officials, the damage estimates to the substation totaled $7,000. It is believed that because of the power outage to customers, there is an additional loss of $50,000 to the company. “In this case, I hope the money the suspect would have received for the stolen copper was worth the price he or she has potentially paid,” Hill said. Hill said copper thefts have been on the increase since the price of copper began to skyrocket two years ago. Brokers with the New York Stock Exchange expect copper to trade for $4.10 a pound in July. The future rate is up a fraction of a point from June’s trade price, according to CNNMoney. Wesley Brown can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wbrown@freedomenc.com.

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