Cumru Township police arrested a Flying Hills man they said was caught trespassing with a backpack filled with cutting tools on an abandoned Route 10 property that has been the recent target of telecommunications cable thefts.
Cody G. Heim, 35, of the first block of Doral Drive was charged with possessing an instruments of crime, loitering and prowling at nighttime, and defiant trespassing.
He was committed to Berks County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail following arraignment Sunday before District Judge F. Richard Drumheller in Reading Central Court. A preliminary hearing is pending.
According to court records:
Shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, Officer Leon Grim was driving on Morgantown Road south of Route 724 when he noticed a moped parked behind the iron gate of the driveway leading to the residence.
Grim knew the property had been abandoned for several years and had been the site of previous break-ins, as well as recent thefts of Verizon cable for its copper-wire content. According to the officer, thieves often cut the cable, extract the copper and sell it to metal recycling businesses.
Grim pulled into the access road and used his patrol vehicle’s spotlight to illuminate the moped. Moments later, Heim emerged from around a corner of the residence and walked toward the officer.
The property’s no-trespassing sign had been ripped from the gate and was lying on the ground in front of it, but remained clearly visible to anyone approaching the property, police said.
A search of Heim’s backpack uncovered numerous tools commonly used to cut cables and wire, including a cordless copper-tubing saw, battery-powered shears, wire snips, and a safety respirator and mask.