Three charged in Milwaukee streetlight copper thefts totaling $830,000
Court documents allege the men broke into junction boxes and streetlight bases to strip wiring for scrap over a two-year period.
By Jason Miller ·
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Police Chief Paul Lough, the Department of Public Works, and District Attorney Kent Lovern addressed reporters Monday at the Police Administration Building following the filing of charges against three men suspected in a series of streetlight copper wire thefts.
Court documents state that over roughly two years, thieves have taken more than $830,000 worth of copper wire from the city across about 250 break-ins. The documents allege the perpetrators access underground junction boxes and streetlight bases to remove wiring, which they then sell to scrap yards.
Alvin Clifton Harris, 51, is named in court documents as the man known to associates as the "Green Goblin." According to those documents, the other arrested men used the nickname because of the color of his vehicle and his "vicious" demeanor. Harris and associates Mario Gill, 55, and Daryll Harton, 58, each face felony charges connected to stealing copper wire.
District Attorney Kent Lovern told reporters the thefts affect residents beyond the loss of material. "This is nonviolent crime that has a reverberating impact on thousands of people in our neighborhoods in this city," Lovern said.
Assistant Police Chief Paul Lough said the thefts have caused outages and hazards. "Here we have a guy working in conjunction with two others, that we know of, stealing thousands of dollars of property and doing it in a way that causes taxpayers to pay and creating an unsafe environment for our citizens to live in," Lough said. He added that he believes the arrests will make a "huge dent" in such incidents in Milwaukee.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the city would pursue cases involving stolen infrastructure. "I want to be clear. The city takes these thefts seriously and we will not look the other way when people break the law and they steal," Johnson said. "They steal. They make the decision to steal our resources, that puts a burden on our neighborhoods and on our taxpayers."
Source: CBS 58 · original report published
