Deputies bust dad on his bring your son to work day at tower site

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Last edited Mon Mar 11, 2024, 03:58 PM - Edit history (1)

The full title of the article refers to a separate set of copper thefts.

Deputies bust dad on his bring your son to work day at tower site; multi-site copper thief gets probation

In Featured News by Wireless Estimator / March 11, 2024


DAD AND SON BONDING—Jerry Sweeney, at left, remains in jail because he hasn’t been able to post a $300,000 bond after being arrested for allegedly stealing transmission lines from a cell site in Hamlet, North Carolina. His son, Jeremy, was also charged with the theft and released on a $2,500 unsecured bond.

Two North Carolina men, a father and son team, are facing criminal charges after being accused of stealing transmission lines from a cell site tower in eastern Richmond County for their copper value.


The Sweeneys cut through the fence to get to this 300-foot guyed tower in an American Tower Corp. compound and removed AT&T’s transmission lines.

According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) press statement released on March 4, 2024, deputies responded to a call about the cutting and theft of copper wire on Ponderosa Drive, north of Hamlet, on February 29, 2024. ... “Deputies spoke with a representative from AT&T at the tower and observed where the copper wire had been cut and removed from the bottom of the tower, along with damage to the fence where it had been cut to make entry into the property,” authorities said.

Deputies reportedly obtained surveillance video from the area. They identified two men — 45-year-old Jerry Neal Sweeney and 26-year-old Jeremy Wayne Sweeney, both of Hamlet — carrying a toolbox and coming from the dirt road where the 300-foot guyed tower owned by American Tower Corp. is located.

The father-son duo were found at their nearby home on Ponderosa Drive. According to the sheriff’s office, one was outside burning the copper wire, and the other was inside, their statement said ... Each man was charged with a felony count of injury to property to obtain nonferrous metals and one misdemeanor count of first-degree trespassing and larceny.

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