Jackson County brothers arrested on charges of selling stolen copper wire

JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) - Two Jackson County brothers are in custody for allegedly selling stolen copper phone line.

Rodney Lavon Boler, 45, and Russell Eugene Boler, 49, were arrested by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department on charges of receiving stolen property.

The sheriff’s department has had several reports of phone lines being cut and stolen throughout the county. Investigators discovered the Bolers were selling burned copper lines to a local scrap yard, which violates Mississippi’s revised scrap metal law.

The revised law states:

It shall be unlawful for a person to sell, or any scrap metal dealer to purchase, any copper telecommunications wire in any form or any metal property clearly identified as belonging to a telecommunications company, unless that metal property is purchased from (i) an electrician or contractor to whom either a license has been issued by a municipality or county in this state or a current certificate of responsibility has been issued by the State Board of Public Contractors; or (ii) a person who holds a demolitions permit issued by a municipality or county in this state. It shall be unlawful for a person to sell, or a scrap metal dealer to purchase, copper telecommunication wire that has been burned to remove the insulation, unless the seller provides certification, on a form as issued by the Secretary of State and signed by a firefighter who is currently in compliance with the certification requirements of the Mississippi Fire Personnel Minimum Standards and Certification Board or a certified law enforcement officer, that the source of the copper telecommunication wire was from a building destroyed by fire.

Bail was set at the Bolers’ initial court appearance at $2,500 each.

The investigation into the phone line thefts is continuing. Anyone with any information can call the sheriff’s department at 228-769-3065 or report it anonymously to Coast Crime Stoppers at 877-787-5898.

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