Man Accused of Stealing Copper from Murrieta Construction Site Facing Felony Charge

A Riverside man accused of stealing spools of copper wire from a construction site and other locations is slated to be arraigned Thursday on a felony charge.

David Charles Frederick, 25, was arrested in May following a Murrieta police investigation that allegedly pointed to him as the culprit in a theft resulting in nearly $2,000 in losses. Frederick, who is free on $5,000 bail, is charged with theft of public property.

Murrieta police Lt. Tony Conrad said that on the morning of May 22, the defendant and an unknown accomplice accessed a storage yard set up for work on the new Los Alamos Road ramp to Interstate 215.

Frederick and the other man allegedly gathered up a large spool of copper wire and several industrial tools, loading them into a vehicle, at which point the project foreman confronted them, prompting the pair to flee.

The witness got the vehicle license plate number and relayed the information to police, according to Conrad.

After identifying Frederick as the owner of the vehicle, a search warrant was served at his Scheelite Street residence, where investigators recovered the property stolen from the construction site, as well as spools of copper wire evidently taken from another location, Conrad said.

Frederick was arrested without incident, posted bond within a few days and was released.

According to court records, he's facing an unrelated misdemeanor charge for allegedly violating a domestic violence-related restraining order in January.

– City News Service.