Docs: IL man steals $13K in valuable metal from Indiana business

THORNTOWN, Ind. -- An Illinois man is accused of stealing over $13,000 worth of copper from an Indiana business.




Richard L. Frank of Elgin, Illinois, was arrested by Boone County deputies on Wednesday. He faces a theft of valuable metal charge as well as a fraud charge, according to Indiana's court reporting system.

In a Thorntown police report, an employee called the department to report a suspicious incident. In February, a subject arrived at Stalcop Metal Forming and claimed to be the business's scrap reclaim vendor. The subject was wearing a reflective vest and a hard hat and stated he was there to pick up any damaged material.




He then attempted to enter the admin building and other areas of the facility to locate said materials. The report noted that the employee did not attempt to identify the subject and loaded two crates of copper into the subject's truck. After the second crate was loaded, the employee stated the subject ran to his truck and fled the scene, causing him to become suspicious of the incident.




After the Thorntown police documented the incident, a Stalcop Metal Forming employee sent in surveillance footage of the subject. According to court documents, the officer witnessed an older male driving a black, newer model Chevrolet truck leaving the scene. However, the license plate was unable to be seen in the recording.




On Feb. 26, the investigating officer was advised by the Stalcorp Metal Forming CEO that another business had undergone a similar incident. The officer then called Rea Magnet Wire Company, where an employee informed the officer that a subject had arrived to gather copper scrap from their business. The subject claimed to be an Omnisource employee, but when asked for proper identification, he allegedly refused to provide it. The employee then escorted the man off the property.




According to court documents, the descriptions given by both employees matched, and the officer was able to confirm this was the same man. The incident was also documented on Rea Magnet Wire's security cameras, and this time the officer was able to identify a license plate number.




Once the officer received the license plate information, he entered it into the system. He found that the vehicle came back to Crown Leasing in Billings, Montana, and it was currently being leased to Frank & Sons Paving LLC.




The officer then made contact with the corporate security director for Steel Dynamics, the parent company of Omnisource. The director confirmed a subject named Richard L. Frank was a registered agent for this company. The mailing address for the agent came back to Elgin, Illinois, the same one on the Frank & Sons Paving company lease for the truck.




Afterwards, the officer made contact with the Major Investigation Division of the Elgin Police Department. They were familiar with Frank, and according to court documents, they forwarded all of their information over to the Thorntown police officer. In this information, a booking photo was attached that matched the description of the subject in both incidents.




The Elgin detective also confirmed they had an active arrest warrant out for Frank.




The officer then went back to the Stalcop employee and showed him the booking photo of Frank. The employee confirmed Frank to be the subject he interacted with on the day of the incident, court documents said.




The copper taken from Stalcop was Grade one pure copper, and two boxes with a combined weight of 2,654 pounds, came to a total value of $13,673.




Boone County Sheriff deputies picked up Frank from the Tippecanoe County Jail, where he was previously held on a separate incident. He was then transported to jail.




Indiana's court reporting system indicates that Frank had his initial hearing on Friday, where he faces charges of felony theft. The court set Frank's bond at $5,000, and it is unknown if he has been released from custody.




A pre-trial hearing is set for Oct. 8.





via: https://fox59.com/news/docs-il-man-steals-13k-in-valuable-metal-from-indiana-business/