TWO MEN CAUGHT STEALING SCRAP METAL

TWO MEN CAUGHT STEALING SCRAP METAL

The scrap metal available in a business near Ormond Beach that had been closed for some time was just too much of a temptation for two men. They broke into World Color, 1281 North US Highway 1, on Saturday and went to work yanking out wires and dismantling an air conditioning unit. They then left the scavenged metal in a pile overnight and returned Sunday to load it up and haul it away. But as they packed it into their Pontiac Grand Am, a man who suspected they were trespassing confronted them. That didn't stop John Luke, 31, and Andrew Boardman, 28, though. They told the man that they didn't know who owned the metal as they finished loading the car. When they drove away, the witness reported the activity to the Sheriff's Office, including the suspects' vehicle description with a Nebraska license plate.

Deputies quickly found the described car in a parking lot at an Ormond Beach hotel and questioned Luke and Boardman. The pair readily admitted to taking the metal that was now in their car. Their original story was that they had been fishing on Saturday and noticed a pile of abandoned metal nearby. They claimed that they then returned the next day, and upon seeing the metal still there they decided to take it. However, when deputies visited the crime scene, there were clear signs that the business had been recently broken into and objects inside had been tampered with. Deputies also saw burglary tools in the men's car along with the stolen metal. Luke and Boardman later admitted to the real sequence of events after being confronted with the evidence.

Luke, from Port Orange, and Boardman, from Nebraska, were both charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools and grand theft. They were booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on $15,000 bond.