The Bonneville Power Administration has given the Flathead County sheriff’s department a $3,000 reward for its work investigating the theft of copper wire.
Flathead officers arrested four people after a series of thefts from 11 power substations in northwestern Montana between October 2007 and March 2008. Three people have pleaded guilty to stealing the wire and selling it at a recycling center.
The total damages from the break-ins and copper thefts was $90,000. The copper was taken from substations owned by the BPA and the Flathead Electric Cooperative.
The sheriff’s office gave the reward money to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Flathead County.