CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A man charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of copper and steel cable from Allegheny Power facilities and cell tower sites over the past several months waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday in Franklin County Central Court.
Timothy Lee Taylor Jr., 32, of no fixed address, is charged by Pennsylvania State Police with 15 counts of theft, along with charges of fleeing and eluding police, receiving stolen property, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. Taylor is being held in Franklin County Jail on $10,000 bond.
Police said they had been investigating a series of thefts of wire from the substations and towers, and at 3:15 a.m. Sept. 29, troopers on patrol were looking for a gold Saturn believed to be a vehicle used in the thefts. It was spotted near an Allegheny Power substation on Wilkson Lane in Guilford Township, police said.
Police saw fresh tire tracks in the grass near the substation and turned around to find the Saturn. The car was spotted again going east on U.S. 30, and police followed it onto Pa. 997 and Brownsville Road. The driver fled back onto U.S. 30 heading west, turned north on Mont Alto Road, through the parking lot of Fayetteville (Pa.) Elementary School and into a grass field before getting back onto U.S. 30 going east.