Sheriff’s officers have arrested a man and woman on charges of bringing down a nearly 500-foot radio tower in Hugo last week in order to steal some copper.
Choctaw County Sheriff Terry Park said Matt Wilsn and Candice Logan are jailed after bringing down the KITX radio tower, causing an estimated $500,000 damage and knocking the radio station off the air. Wilson is 37 and Logan is 34.
The radio station, built to serve southeast Oklahoma and northeast Texas, said on Facebook the response from the Hugo community was “humbling” reported Fox News.
The tower belongs to Payne Media Group’s station K95.5. After the Jan. 15 incident, Will Payne with the radio station explained the culprits “cut the guy-wire on one leg and that’s what brought entire top secctions down. And then, they proceeded to disassemble.”
“What they do, these copper thieves, is they cut it up in these 10-foot sections,” Payne says. “So right now we know that there’s probably eight to 10 of these sections in the back of a truck or a van, maybe. This is what we need to be looking out for, and if you can help me out as we try to figure out our next step, what we’re gonna do to rebuild this place.”
“Loss of copper a few hundred dollars, damage to the tower and building approximately 500,000.00,” Park posted on his Facebook page.
