Three OPD5 power poles, located on the eastern side of the Mormon Mesa, were damaged by what appeared to be gun fire. The damage cost the district more than $10,000 in equipment and labor to repair.
According to OPD5 Engineering Coordinator Boyd Evans, district staff received a phone call last week from a customer reporting that one of the three wooden poles in that area was down and two more were severely damaged.
OPD5 crews arrived at the scene to find that the poles appeared to have been damaged by multiple gun shots. This was confirmed by the existence of a large number of ammunition shells on the ground nearby, at the apparent location from which the shots had been fired.
“It looked like they were shooting with an automatic rifle of some kind,” Evans said. “From the damage to the poles and the number of shells lying there, I’d say they shot well over 200 rounds.”
Evans estimated that the damage to the poles had taken place in the last month or so. But it wasn’t until a wind storm blew through the area last week that one of the poles was toppled from the damage that had been done.
Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department were called to the scene to investigate the incident. Local Metro Sergeant Keegan Doty said that he couldn’t comment on specific details of the investigation, but he did say that it was being treated as a high priority item.
Doty emphasized that legal consequences for such actions are quite severe including felony charges and heavy fines.
“Taking out utility services to a large number of people, or attempting to do so, is a very serious crime,” Doty said. “I mean, we see instances of people shooting signs up all the time out in the desert. That kind of vandalism is bad enough. But this instance takes it to a whole other level. It was a very poor choice for someone out there.”
Doty said that if the perpetrator is caught, they will certainly be required to recompense OPD5 for the cost of the damages. But the person would also very likely face serious felony charges, he said.
OPD5 crews went to work immediately to replace the damaged poles. It took a full line crew two days of work to complete all of the repairs.
“It is kind of senseless because you have these high costs of equipment and man hours that have to be paid,” Evans said. “And if those costs are not recovered, then they have to just be passed on to the customers. So it is all of us, in our communities, that have to pay for this kind of thing.”
Evans expressed general appreciation to the customer who had seen a problem with the poles and reported it back to the district. “It is great when people keep an eye out for that kind of thing and report it so that we can make sure our lines are okay and so that serious incidents can be investigated,” he said. “And certainly if citizens see people doing that kind of thing to our system, they should just call 911 right away to report it.”