A North Carolina man employed at a solar field construction project in Laurel has been arrested after Delaware State Police said he stole thousands of feet of copper wire from the work site and attempted to sell it to a recycling facility.
According to investigators, troopers responded to the 8000 block of Woodland Ferry Road near Laurel on June 8 after receiving a report that nearly 2,000 feet of copper wire, valued at more than $26,000, had been stolen from a solar field construction site sometime between June 4 and June 8. Troopers determined that a worker on the project, 41-year-old Gerardo Carmona Hernandez of Shannon, North Carolina, had sold copper wire to a recycling center in Lincoln on June 5 and returned on June 8 with additional wire police said.
Police said troopers responded to Fitzgerald’s Salvage and Recycling and identified the wire as matching the material reported stolen from the construction site. Hernandez had left before troopers arrived, but later returned driving a Chevrolet Colorado. A records check allegedly showed he did not possess a valid driver’s license and that the vehicle was uninsured. He was taken into custody without incident.
Hernandez was charged with felony counts of theft over $1,500, theft by false pretense over $1,500, selling stolen property over $1,500, and attempted sale of stolen property over $1,500. Additional charges include second-degree criminal trespass, two counts of falsifying business records, driving without a valid license, failure to maintain required insurance, and several traffic violations.
Following arraignment in Justice of the Peace Court 3, Hernandez was released on his own recognizance pending further court proceedings.
