An alert citizen called police around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, May 29, to report two suspects who were stealing copper wire near Ralph Foy Park.
The informant told police that two men were seen using a hacksaw to cut wire and load it into a black SUV before the vehicle then fled north on Hollywood Way toward the I-5 Freeway.
According to Sgt. Steven Turner of the Burbank Police Department, “Responding officers located a vehicle matching the description traveling north on Hollywood Way approaching the I-5 onramp. A felony stop was conducted, and the two occupants were detained. A large spool of copper wire, with a value exceeding $950.00, and tools were recovered from the vehicle.”
Turner said Burbank Water and Power confirmed the wire was stolen from their substation located on Hollywood Way, just behind the playground at Foy Park.
The two suspects, identified as 37-year-old Oscar Chicas-Gomez, a resident of Northridge, and 27-year-old Jorge Estrada-Aguilar, a transient, were arrested and booked for felony 487j, grand theft of copper wire.
