Deputies bust alleged copper thief
A man who is one of two suspects in a scheme to steal copper wire in Scott County and sell it here was arrested last week.
The man, Corey Rayborn, 34, 12333 Road 325, was arrested and charged with two counts of false pretense for selling stolen copper, according to Neshoba County Sheriff Eric Clark.
Clark said Scott County authorities will want to talk to Rayborn and his alleged accomplice, Derek Dooley, about stealing the copper from AT&T lines in the Steele community off of Highway 21 south in Scott County.
“I think this puts a bow on it on this end,” Clark said.
Clark said his office made contact with Rayborn on on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 25. He said his department received a call at about 6:45 a.m. that Rayborn had just escaped his bond agent after a tussle that ended with her pushed off the porch at 12333 Road 325, Rayborn’s father’s residents.
Neshoba County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived on the scene soon after and began a search of the area.
At about 9:45 a.m., Rayborn was located in a wooded area lying down in some vegetation near a house on Road 325, about a half mile north of his father’s house, where he was staying.
Rayborn was booked into the Neshoba County Detention Center by 10:30 a.m., where he remains in custody.
Rayborn and Dooley, 36, of Sebastopol were found to have brought a substantial amount of stolen copper wire to Central Mississippi Recycling on the morning of Friday, Sept. 20.
“They told the scrapyard they had more wire and would return the next day,” Clark said. The men reportedly received $533 for the initial batch of wire.
Law enforcement monitored the scrapyard and confronted the suspects when they returned the following morning.
Rayborn fled the scene, but deputies apprehended Dooley and searched his white Chevrolet Colorado, discovering about 285 pounds of copper wire valued at about $585.
Along with the wire, authorities seized the truck and found chainsaws, grinders, straps, and other tools believed to be used in the theft. Additionally, more unburned wire was discovered.
Deputies later searched Dooley’s Sebastopol residence at 1493 E. Highway 487, where a sample of wire was collected and identified by AT&T as a 400-pair cable.
Dooley was arrested and charged with felony false pretense and possession of stolen property.