Gladewater Police: Man Tried to Steal Copper

GLADEWATER — A Kilgore man remains behind bars after police say he tried to strip copper wires from an electrical transformer. According to KETK and the Longview News-Journal, police responded about 4:30pm Monday to the 200 block of Smallwood Road in Gladewater. That’s where witnesses told them Ruben Jaramillo, 21, and another man ran from the property and hid in a nearby cabin once they noticed the property owner watching them. That information comes from a probable cause affidavit filed with Gregg County Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace B.H. Jameson.

Police found Jaramillo hiding in the bottom of a cabinet in the cabin’s bedroom, police said. Officers asked Jaramillo why he was trying to take the copper, and he said he was planning to sell it so he could buy diapers for his daughter. The transformer was valued at $3,000 and had been destroyed when the copper was ripped out of it, police said. Jaramillo was booked into the Gregg County Jail on Monday, charged with criminal mischief. He is being held on $5,000 bond.