A Hernando school worker is accused of stealing copper wiring from a high school, then selling it to a recycling company.
By DUANE BOURNE
Published September 4, 2003
BROOKSVILLE - A Hernando school district maintenance worker has been suspended after he was accused of stealing more than $3,000 worth of copper wiring from a secured area at Central High School, district officials said.
Alonzo Fagin, 49, of Kennedy Boulevard in Brooksville, was suspended without pay on Wednesday, pending the outcome of a criminal investigation.
Fagin, who is employed in the district's plant operations, was arrested on Aug. 26 and charged with grand theft after school officials discovered that 22 rolls of copper wire had turned up missing on school grounds one week earlier.
A sheriff's deputy then began calling recycling centers in Hernando County to see if anyone had tried to sell 200 pounds of copper wire.
An employee at Shulnburg Recycling in Brooksville, told investigators that Fagin had been bringing in copper wire for a week. The spools of wire had been cut into pieces to handle easier, the report said.
The Sheriff's Office has obtained receipts from the recycling center which showed that between Aug. 13 and 19, Fagin swapped more than 1,600 pounds of copper, netting $1,014, according to a sheriff's report.
"The guy walked into there with 300 and 400 pounds of copper at a time," said Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Joseph Paez, explaining that the metal is worth 60 cents a pound. "He did this between three and four days."
During the investigation, authorities learned that Fagin had been going to the Brooksville recycling center for more than two years.
However, they were unable determine whether additional items had been stolen from school grounds during that time.
"Whether that has come from the school remains to be seen," Paez added.
Fagin, who told detectives that he did not know who swiped the copper, was later taken into custody.
He later admitted that he thought that the six rolls were going to be thrown out because they were placed under a tarp near Central's auto repair class.
Fagin could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
- Duane Bourne can be reached at 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com
