In a strange turn of events, two men were arrested by State Police on Monday, February 6th after they attempted to strip a cell phone tower in Wayne County.
The arrest was made after an employee of a cell phone tower on Mud Lane in Sodus reported a suspicious incident to the police.
According to the report, two men were working on the cell tower, claiming they were decommissioning it and stripping all the wire. They had a trailer full of copper wire and thick cables already loaded. The employee confronted the men, who were then reported to the State Police.
Upon arrival, state police arrested Vincent DePaul, 35, of Syracuse and Brandon L. Rudy, 33, of Kirkville. The two were charged with criminal trespass, felony burglary, felony criminal mischief, and grand larceny.
The arrests brought attention to similar cell phone tower stripping incidents in Seneca and Onondaga Counties, as well as in Pennsylvania. The estimated damage to the Mud Lane cell tower is in the range of ten to twenty thousand dollars.
Both Vincent DePaul and Brandon L. Rudy were taken to CAP Court with a recommended bail of $2000 cash/$4000 bond and released for a preliminary hearing in Sodus Court. The State Police are asking anyone with information about similar incidents to contact them at (315) 451-3200.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]