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Bloomington Cops Catch Copper Thieves Spotted After Dinner Break

Last updated on Monday, June 2, 2008

(BLOOMINGTON) - Two men are behind bars after getting caught with a van full of stolen copper by two cops finishing up their dinner break.

Bloomington police say two officers just finished their dinner break Saturday night at the O'Charleys restaurant when, from the parking lot, they saw a minivan with copper tubing sticking out of windows.

Though they were unable to pursue, Monroe County Sheriff's officials say they had received a complaint of a copper theft and received a tip as to who could have done it. When Bloomington officers arrived at that location, they found the minivan, and it's occupants, 59-year-old Richard Littlejohn and Kenneth Harding, both of Bloomington, stashing $40,000 worth of copper tubing underneath a trailer home.

According to the report, Littlejohn admitted to officers the tubing was taken from a West Zenith Drive construction site, where Ivy Tech Community College is expanding, and the contractor of the site also said some cast iron fittings and a laser level worth $5,000 was also missing...and found at the trailer home.

Both Littlejohn and Harding were lodged in the Monroe County jail.

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