LITCHFIELD, Maine — A Richmond man was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with stripping a trash barrel full of copper piping from a vacant home.
Ryan Cray, 28, was charged with burglary, theft and failing to submit to arrest, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Early Tuesday afternoon, a resident of Pleasant Pond Road returned home for lunch and saw a man, later identified as Cray, walking on the private road, McCausland said in a press release. He said the resident confronted Cray and noticed a trash barrel outside a nearby home that was not normally kept there.
The resident called 911 and gave police a detailed description of the man and his vehicle. Richmond police recognized the vehicle description and waited at Cray’s home for him to arrive, according to McCausland. When he did, officers detained him until Maine State Police troopers arrived to take him into custody.
McCausland said Cray was charged with failing to submit to arrest because he struggled with officers.
Investigators allegedly found copper piping and bolt cutters in the trash barrel outside the vacant home. Forced entry had been made into the home’s basement, from where the piping had been cut, according to police.