DTC Employee Charged with Theft

An employee of DTC Communications has been arrested for allegedly stealing spools of copper wire from the company.
55 year old Thomas Burton Ervin of Redmon Road, Smithville will appear in court January 5 charged with theft of property over $500 and possession of a weapon with the intent to go armed. His bond is $7,500.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said officers learned, through an investigation, that Ervin had allegedly taken spools of copper wire from DTC work sites, placed them on a DTC truck, and hauled them to property on Allen’s Ferry Road, where he allegedly hid them behind bales of hay. After identifying Ervin as a suspect, Sheriff Ray and two detectives spotted him on New Home Road Wednesday, December 21. He was driving his personal truck and hauling a horse trailer. They pulled him over and found in the horse trailer multiple spools of #2 copper wire, totaling 880 pounds, belonging to DTC. They also found a loaded Remington 700 243 rifle on the passenger side seat in the cab of the truck .Ervin was mirandized and escorted to the jail. Ervin allegedly admitted that the wire belonged to DTC and that he did not have authorization to have the wire in his personal vehicle.
Meanwhile, 22 year old Jeremy Silas Shelton and 25 year old Jennifer Dawn Johnson both of Jacobs Pillar Road, Smithville are charged with aggravated burglary and theft of property over $1,000. Bond for each is $20,000. Johnson was arrested December 12 and Shelton on December 15
Sheriff Ray reports that on November 11, Shelton and Johnson allegedly broke into a residence on Upper Helton Road, entering through a front door, and stole a 50 inch LG flat screen TV and a Dell laptop computer, each valued at more than $1,000.
30 year old Kenneth Adam Wright of Lower Helton Road, Alexandria is charged with a second offense of driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage. He was also issued a citation for violation of the financial responsibility law (no insurance), violation of the implied consent law, and simple possession of a schedule III controlled substance (hydrocodone). His bond totals $5,000 and he will be in court on January 12.
According to Sheriff Ray, a deputy responded to a motor vehicle accident on Sunday, December 18 on the Alexandria to Dismal Road. Upon arrival, the officer discovered that the driver of the vehicle had left the scene. During the accident investigation, a black truck drove by. The officer noticed that the passenger of that truck tried to hide his face. A state trooper, who was also at the scene, pulled over the truck. Wright was the passenger. Sheriff Ray said that Wright had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person and he was very unsteady on his feet. Wright submitted to several field sobriety tasks but performed poorly. Wright refused to submit to a blood test. When the officer asked Wright to get out of the vehicle, he dropped a white oval pill believed to be hydrocodone.
22 year old David Braxton White of Old West Point Road, Smithville is charged with two counts of theft of property under $500. White allegedly committed the thefts at the residence where he was living. White was arrested on December 21. His bond is $3,000 and he will be in court on January 12.
Sheriff Ray reports that in the first case on September 1, White allegedly took a refrigerator from the home on Old West Point Road and sold it at a local recycling business. Meanwhile in the second case on December 6, White allegedly took a double air tank compressor from the same residence and sold it at a pawn shop in Warren County.