Two arrested for stealing telephone line in Williamsburg

 Two Williamsburg residents were arrested Monday evening in connection with charges involving stolen AT&T phone wire.

About 8:37 p.m. Monday, Kentucky State Police Trooper Tony Dingess charged Michael E. Holt, 38, of 4479 Lot Mud Creek Road, with receiving stolen property under $10,000, unlawful purchase or disposition of metals and failure to maintain a register of metals.

About 10:40 p.m. Monday, Dingess charged Joshua E. Morris, 24, of 461 Hyden Road, with receiving stolen property under $10,000 and first-degree criminal mischief.

On Sept. 4, Morris allegedly illegally received stolen AT&T phone wire that he cut up, stripped and burnt so it could be resold at a recycling center, according to his arrest citation.

The phone line wire was valued at $5,000, according to Morris’ arrest warrant.

Dingess stated in the warrant that he received a statement from a co-defendant describing how the co-defendant and Morris allegedly illegally received and damaged AT&T phone wire by stripping, melting and selling the cooper wire to Holt’s Recycling on Mud Creek.

Dingess located stripped phone wire coating on the riverbank near Morris residence on Ken Hyden Road, he stated in the arrest warrant.

About 6:40 p.m. on Sept. 6, Holt allegedly illegally received stolen AT&T phone wire from a co-defendant by purchasing it and falsifying a sales receipt recording the material at "tin," according to his arrest citation.

Holt allegedly purchased 238 pounds of stolen AT&T phone wire from a co-defendant and falsified documents of the sales transaction describing the material as "tin" on the sales receipt, Dingess wrote in the arrest warrant.

Both Holt and Morris were lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center. Morris is being held in lieu of $10,000 cash bond, and Holt was released on a $10,000 cash bond about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.