Crime Stoppers: Help us take a bite out of crime:
Crime Prevention Officers contact information is:
District 1: Ft Campbell area – Nelson Rodriguez 931-648-0656 Ext1017
District 2: Downtown area – Roger Carol 931-648-0656 Ext 2316
District 3: Sango / St Bethlehem – Heather Vanatta 931-648-0656
Criminal Investigations Contact Detective A. Hurst 931-648-0656 ext 1008
Crime Stoppers signs are ready and available to all membership at Dunn Insurance office on Madison St. Clarksville.
District 1: Ft Campbell area – Nelson Rodriguez 931-648-0656 Ext1017
District 2: Downtown area – Roger Carol 931-648-0656 Ext 2316
District 3: Sango / St Bethlehem – Heather Vanatta 931-648-0656
Criminal Investigations Contact Detective A. Hurst 931-648-0656 ext 1008
Crime Stoppers signs are ready and available to all membership at Dunn Insurance office on Madison St. Clarksville.
The Leaf Chronicle
Tavia D. Green, 245-0742
Crime/courts reporter
taviagreen@theleafchronicle.com
Clarksville Builder offer $5,000 reward for copper theft arrest
Chris Blackwell, the owner of C. Blackwell Construction, walked through a framed home on Putnam Drive in disbelief on Tuesday.The construction of the home, owned by his brother Eric, had been progressing well up until then. On Monday, an electrician spent hours wiring the home for appliances, lights and more. Monday night, however, someone stole all the wiring.
"They came in Monday night and cut every wire out of the house," Blackwell said. "It was like they were watching it get wired and then came back and cut the wire out. That was about $2,500 worth of damage."
Down the street, thieves also entered four other Blackwell homes through the garages and cut the copper wires out of the panel breaker boxes.
"They cut them so short we have to cut sheet rock around it to fix it," Blackwell said. "We have due dates on a lot of our houses that are sold. This can cause us to miss a deadline on these houses. They've been climbing up in the attics in a couple of homes and cut all the wires they see in my attic. Those wires go to the light switches and cost us a lot of money."
Blackwell said the electrician who wired the home had to begin his work from scratch.
Local law enforcement officials have reported a rash of copper thefts inside homes under construction in the St. Bethlehem and Fort Campbell areas as well as in the county.
Blackwell said this is the first time he's been hit by copper thieves. He and other home builders, such as Rick Reda, owner of Reda Homebuilders, have pooled their money to offer a $5,000 reward through Crimestoppers for information leading to an arrest.
Reda said only one of his homes was hit by the thieves, but the home builders are part of a tight community and he knows of almost two dozen homes that have been burglarized.
"In 18 days, they've cut 23 homes and done almost $100,00 worth of damage," Reda said. "We want it to stop... I would like the community to be aware, keep their eyes open for flashlights in the houses at nights. If they see any, call the police. If your call leads to the arrest, you'll get the $5,000."
"They came in Monday night and cut every wire out of the house," Blackwell said. "It was like they were watching it get wired and then came back and cut the wire out. That was about $2,500 worth of damage."
Down the street, thieves also entered four other Blackwell homes through the garages and cut the copper wires out of the panel breaker boxes.
"They cut them so short we have to cut sheet rock around it to fix it," Blackwell said. "We have due dates on a lot of our houses that are sold. This can cause us to miss a deadline on these houses. They've been climbing up in the attics in a couple of homes and cut all the wires they see in my attic. Those wires go to the light switches and cost us a lot of money."
Blackwell said the electrician who wired the home had to begin his work from scratch.
Local law enforcement officials have reported a rash of copper thefts inside homes under construction in the St. Bethlehem and Fort Campbell areas as well as in the county.
Blackwell said this is the first time he's been hit by copper thieves. He and other home builders, such as Rick Reda, owner of Reda Homebuilders, have pooled their money to offer a $5,000 reward through Crimestoppers for information leading to an arrest.
Reda said only one of his homes was hit by the thieves, but the home builders are part of a tight community and he knows of almost two dozen homes that have been burglarized.
"In 18 days, they've cut 23 homes and done almost $100,00 worth of damage," Reda said. "We want it to stop... I would like the community to be aware, keep their eyes open for flashlights in the houses at nights. If they see any, call the police. If your call leads to the arrest, you'll get the $5,000."
