Guilty pleas settle copper power line crime

Pleas of guilty have settled a 2011 crime in Oconee that victimized the Duke Energy Corporation. Officers of Oconee General Sessions Court say three men yesterday pleaded guilty to offenses alleging “Metals/Injury to real property, fixtures or improvements to obtain nonferrous metals, damage of more than $10,000.” General Sessions Judge Rupert Markley Dennis meted out identical sentences to defendants Kevin Todd Adams, Franklin James Davis, and James Edward Blackmon. Adams, Davis, and Blackmon were sentenced to seven years in prison, suspended to five years probation, with the requirement that each man pay Duke Energy $10 thousand in restitution. The criminal charges arose from an Oconee Sheriff’s Office investigation of damage to copper power line cable in a remote area between Lake Tugaloo at Long Creek and the Holly Springs community near Westminster.