Police: Couple stole sewer grates to pay for Halloween constumes

A Williamsburg husband and wife were arrested last week for allegedly stealing six 150 lb. storm sewer grates from the median of I-75, and planned to sell them for scrap in order to buy their children Halloween costumes.

Kenneth D. Rowe, 27, and April Rowe, 28, were caught by Corbin police after passing motorists reported the couple for stealing the grates. They were both charged with theft over $500 in value.

Corbin Police Col. David Maiden said he was informed to be on the lookout for a gold minivan whose occupants had been spotted taking the grates from the I-75 median between exits 15 and 25 on Friday afternoon.

"I saw the van stopped at a red light near the 29 exit and went ahead and pulled them over," Maiden said. "The driver and passenger both had mud all over them. I figured at that point I probably had the right people."

Maiden said the couple admitted to stealing the grates. All of them were located inside the vehicle.

"They said they were going to take them to the scrap yard to get money to buy Halloween costumes for their kids," Maiden said. "I don’t know how they got them because he only weights about 160 lbs. and she was small too. It was hard for two officers to even lift them."

Maiden estimates that each of the grates, which measured 3 1/2 by 1-1/2 feet, is worth around $500 new. He said the couple informed him they were hoping $10 for every hundred lbs. at a scrap yard.

"You would hope scrap yards wouldn’t take stuff like that because you know they are stolen, but you got your honest ones and your dishonest ones," Maiden said.

Maiden said there were seven minor children in the vehicle ranging in ages from five and a half months to eight-years-old. All of the kids were placed in the custody of April Rowe’s aunt.

The minivan the couple was driving was impounded. Maiden said all of the stolen grates were recovered and that a special investigator from the Kentucky Attorney General’s office would be investigating the case.

"I think he’s planning to really push this," Maiden said. "They get a bunch of these and guardrails and stuff stolen too. It’s a real problem."

Kenneth and April Rowe were arrested and lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.