Two men have been charged for allegedly stealing AT&T telecommunication wire south of Festus. The two men were arrested after a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office detective saw them attempting to retrieve the wire in a remote location near Hwy. CC, court records said.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on April 12 charged Joe Louis Barton III, 51, of Hematite, and Troy W. Richburg, 61, of the Festus area with stealing, a class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison, according to court documents.
The two were being held Monday, April 14, at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro. Barton was being held on a $25,000 cash-only bond, and Richburg was being held on a $2,500 surety bond, court records said.
An AT&T employee reported the theft on April 11 after the company learned of outages in the area on April 9. The employee said approximately 800 feet of telecommunication wire had been cut in the 2900 block of Harness Road south of Festus, the case’s probable-cause statement said.
The wire, which was approximately worth $5,000, was found near where it was stolen from, and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Kane Harris set up a trail camera to monitor the wire, the report said.
At about 6 p.m. April 11, Harris and Detective Lance Pippen went to the location after the camera detected movement. Barton and Richburg were seen near the wire, according to the report.
Richburg was arrested, and he allegedly said, “I knew I shouldn’t of came here.” However, Barton ran away from the detectives, the report said.
On April 12, Harris found Barton in a Festus-area home. Barton allegedly was wearing the same hat that he was when the trail camera saw him attempting to retrieve the wire, and clothing Barton was seen wearing in the surveillance was next to him on a couch he was sitting on inside the home, according to the report.
“This type of theft is plaguing the region right now, causing dangerous communication issues,” Sheriff Dave Marshak said in a statement Monday, April 14, announcing the charges. “Our office is cracking down on wire thefts, and prosecutors and judges are working to make sure the thieves spend time in jail.”
Barton has previously been convicted of charges for felony burglary, stealing, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance, possession of methamphetamine paraphernalia, domestic assault and unlawful possession of a weapon. At the time of the arrest, he was on probation for a possession of weapon charge he received in Washington County and was wanted on warrants for failure to appear in court in Jefferson and Washington counties, court records show.
Richburg was previously convicted on felony charges for driving while intoxicated and driving with a revoked license, according to court documents.