When a local business manager noticed copper wire mysteriously disappearing from the company’s inventory, he installed surveillance cameras.
What he saw on the security videos prompted a call to the Eatonton Police Department.
Eatonton Police Officer Tommy Williams responded to the call at Lone Star Tire and Axle Company on Industrial Boulevard on Aug. 27, where the manager reportedly told Williams about the cameras and provided footage.
The videos show one of Lone Star Tire and Axle’s employees, Gus Davis, taking the copper wire from a box, then using a company forklift to put the wire into a barrel in the back of a pickup truck he was driving. The theft was occurring after business hours, according to Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell.
After reviewing the video footage, Williams and EPD Investigator Hargrove Jones went to Hallman Recycling Center and learned that Davis had been bringing scrap copper wire to that facility. Their investigation revealed Davis had reportedly been taking the wire to Hallman’s and receiving payment for it since the end of September 2024.
“Investigator Jones calculated the amount of wire stolen from Lone Star Tire and taken to Hallman’s had a value well over $10,000, so he issued a warrant for Davis’ arrest,” Cardwell said.
Jones and Williams picked up Davis and took him to the police department. There, Davis reportedly “made full admission of guilt that he had been taking copper from his employer and taking it to Hallman’s and receiving cash for the wire,” Cardwell said. “It was a good job by both officers.”
Gus Allen Davis, 58, of Chase Circle, Eatonton, is being held without bond in the Putnam County jail on charges of felony theft by taking.