Bell County Men Arrested After Attempting To Steal Telephone Wire

arrest-7

Two Bell County men were arrested and charged with attempting to steal telephone wire.

 

Bell County dispatch received a call from AT&T representatives regarding the tracking of a freshly cut phone line. The line was said to have been cut in the Old Pineville Pike area. GPS tracking technology was embedded into the wires, so AT&T employees were able to track the suspects on a live map, which indicated the suspects stopped on Bird Branch Road.

 

Deputies responded to the provided location and found 46-year-old Robert Craig Smith, of Middlesboro, and 49-year-old Donnie Ray Rutherford, of Pineville, standing next to an SUV. A large bundle of phone line is said to have been sitting behind the vehicle.

 

Smith informed the officers that the two men were cutting tree bark when they discovered the wires and decided to take them home for scrap. 

 

Smith and Rutherford were both arrested and taken to the Bell County Detention Center. Each man is charged with one count of receiving stolen property, under $10,000.