On Monday June 16, 2008 three men were arrested and charged with burglarizing the old AT&T building located at 5824 Hwy 52E. In 2006 three men were arrested for the same offense and one was injured when an electrical power source arced and caused extensive burns to his hands and face. This time there were no injuries but Gregory Coles (36) of Lawrenceville, Larren Perrell Taylor (27) also of Lawrenceville, and James Elesa Polk (36) of Newport News, Virginia were caught as they were attempting to sell stolen wire, from the old facility, to a recycling center, Schnitzer Southeast, which is located in Hall County.

The investigation began when an off duty Dawson County investigator, who lives in the area, observed a suspicious vehicle leaving the building with a trailer load of copper wire. He was able to follow the vehicle and obtain a tag number, last seeing the vehicle driving in the direction of Hall County. Lumpkin County authorities notified Hall County authorities to be on the look out for the vehicle. Hall County deputies located the vehicle at Regional Recycling in Gainesville as the suspects were in the process of delivering the goods for payment. Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office Investigators determined none of the suspects were authorized to be on the premises and all three were arrested and transported to the Lumpkin County Detention Center.

Investigators processed the scene and collected several pieces of evidence linking the suspects to the scene. Further investigation revealed that one of the suspects had previously contracted with the owner of the property, American Towers Corporation, to remove items from facilities across the country but he had lost the contract and had no authorization to be on the property and certainly no authority to enter and remove the items. American Tower is taking steps to remove any further items of value from the facility and to weld the doors shut in an effort to deter any further incidents.

All three suspects have posted bond with Lumpkin County and were turned over to Hall County authorities to face charges for theft by receiving. Lumpkin County investigators seized the suspect’s vehicle, a 1997 Mitsubishi Montero, and the trailer used in the commission of the crime. The total estimated value of the recovered metal was $3,000.

 

Captain Jason Stover

Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office

    

Gregory Coles	James Polk	Larren Taylor