Waterloo copper thieves plead
Published 11:04pm Saturday, October 17, 2009An eastern Lawrence County man arrested in connection with the theft of 1,800 feet of copper cable in the Waterloo area pleaded guilty on a bill of information Wednesday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court.
Raymond Rose, 25, of 1229 Davis Road, Crown City, pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft and one count of disrupting a public service.
Judge D. Scott Bowling sentenced Rose to 17 months in prison but said he may be eligible for judicial release after 12 months with good behavior. Rose must pay $6,409.96 in restitution to AT&T.
Rose and another man, Dale A. Blake, 26, of 4833 Clay Chapel Road, Crown City, were arrested earlier this month after they were allegedly spotted stripping the copper of the telephone wire by two Waterloo areas residents who had lost their landline telephone service when the AT&T lines were stolen.
In another case Wednesday, Alicia Bailey, 23, of 3887 State Route 243, Ironton, was arraigned on one count of burglary. She pleaded not guilty through attorney Mike Davenport, who was standing in for her attorney, Philip Heald.
Judge Charles Cooper set a $50,000 cash bond at the request of Assistant Lawrence County Prosecutor Mack Anderson, who noted that, “She has a prior felony conviction and she is on community control sanctions.”
Cooper scheduled a pretrial conference for this week.
Her alleged cohort, Zachary M. Branham, 24, of Ashland, Ky., was arraigned on one count of complicity to burglary.
“He has a prior felony conviction in Ohio and is on parole in Kentucky.”
He asked for a $50,000 cash bond for Branham. Gleichauf asked to reserve the right to revisit the issue of bond later on.
Cooper accepted Anderson’s recommendation in Branham’s case as well and scheduled a pretrial conference for later this week.
Joseph K. Huff, 50, of Ashland, Ky., was arraigned on one count of felony DUI. He pleaded not guilty through his attorney, David Reid Dillon.
Bowling set bond at $100,000 cash and banned Huff from driving while his case is pending.
Huff must return to court Oct. 28 for a pretrial conference.
Larry E. Blankenship, 40, of 46 Private Drive 9992, South Point, was arraigned on charges of trafficking in drugs and aggravated trafficking in drugs.
He pleaded not guilty through his attorney, David Reid Dillon.
Bowling set a $50,000 surety bond plus a $100,000 own recognizance (OR) bond and ordered Blankenship to return to court Oct. 28 for a pretrial conference.
Adam R. Stapleton, 25, of 126 Private Drive 3467, Ironton, was arraigned on two counts of breaking and entering and two counts of theft.
He pleaded not guilty through attorney, Mike Gleichauf, who was standing in Stapleton’s attorney, Luke Styer. Bowling set an OR bond of $25,000 and scheduled a Nov. 4 pretrial conference.
