Man accused of copper theft for second time this year

Nicolas A. Scarton, 35, of Albuquerque, was arrested in Las Vegas on July 9, and booked into the San Miguel County Detention center. He has been charged with four felonies and two misdemeanors.

According to a statement of probable cause filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court, Scarton broke into two electrical boxes and cut a main power cable. The damage knocked out power to much of a shopping center on Mills Avenue near Hot Springs Blvd. earlier this month.

Police were first called to the Family Dollar store on Mills around 2 p.m. July 9 after store employees reported finding a power cable cut. PNM crews were already at the shopping center assessing the damage, and according to court documents, PNM crews found several wires cut and discovered a 20-foot cable was missing. The cost of repair was estimated a more than $10,000.

Randy Turpin, a district manager for Family Dollar Inc., told the Optic the damage caused the majority of the company’s Las Vegas store to be without power for two days. Turpin said that for those two days, the store lost money due to being closed, and that thousands of dollars worth of frozen and refrigerated merchandise was destroyed.

Turpin wasn’t sure yet if Family Dollar would have to cover the costs of repair to the electrical boxes.

“It was the whole shopping plaza, so it’s going to depend on how the contracts are written with our leases,” he said.

According to court documents, a local scrap metal company told police it had bought copper from a man that morning. The scrap company requires photo identification with all transactions, and store records identified the seller as Scarton.

The scrap company told police Scarton was driving a black truck that had “primer gray” spots on the passenger’s side door.

An LVPD officer later spotted the distinctive truck parked at a motel on Grand Ave. near Baca Ave. Scarton was arrested outside of a room he’d rented. Inside his room, officers located a bag of tools along with a pipe used for smoking marijuana.

During a search of Scarton, police found a second marijuana pipe, a pipe used for smoking methamphetamine, a bag of methamphetamine and a bag containing marijuana.

According to police, Scarton admitted to stealing the copper wire, telling police he went to Family Dollar around 2:30 a.m. to break into the electrical boxes. He also admitted to selling the copper to the scrap company.

Scarton is already serving probation after he pleaded guilty on June 26 to receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle in Bernalillo County.

He is also awaiting trial for another copper theft case in Rio Rancho where he’s charged with seven felonies. According to a criminal complaint filed in Sandoval County Magistrate Court, Scarton was arrested Feb. 17 when Rio Rancho Police witnessed him breaking into an electrical box near an elementary school. Police also found one of the school’s storage units had been broken into, and found signs of forced entry into the school’s electrical storage room.

In the bed of the truck Scarton was driving, police located bolt cutters, copper wiring and “various other metallic components.” Police also recovered two bags containing methamphetamine and one bag containing heroin from inside the truck.

PNM estimated the cost to repair that damage may exceed $10,000 as well.

In March, the case was transferred to district court for trial; on May 13, Scarton was released from jail in Sandoval County on his own recognizance.

A trial date for Scarton’s recent case has not been set. He remained in custody at SMCDC as of this writing.