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Homeless Man Charged In Copper Theft

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By GEORGE WILKENS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 22, 2008

PLANT CITY A homeless man was charged last week after he was accused of yanking copper wire from a Plant City business, causing extensive damage to three air conditioners, according to a police report.

Anthony David Hofbauer, 40, was arrested Oct. 16 on three felony charges stemming from the theft of the wire from 1905 S. Frontage Road. Charged with grand theft, burglary and criminal mischief causing more than $1,000 in damage, he remained this week in the Orient Road Jail, his bail set at $54,000, records show.

Responding to a complaint about wires missing from the mobile home storage lot, authorities tracked the suspect by following a path from a hole that had been cut in the fence, Plant City police Detective James Cross said. About 150 yards from the fence line, the trail ended at a makeshift camp where Hofbauer was living, an area littered with a large quantity of insulation stripped from electrical wires, Cross said.

Hofbauer claimed the wire was legally obtained elsewhere, but Cross said Hofbauer admitted the theft when confronted with matching manufacture dates on insulation found at his camp and on wires from the electrical junction box at the crime scene.

The property includes a former restaurant site for Western Steer and Bay Seafood. Copper water pipes and other metals with recycling value also were ripped from that building, Cross said.

"There was a large amount of damage," including the destruction of three central air-conditioning units valued at $6,000 each, Cross said.

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