Two Arrested after Theft of Copper from Destroyed Radio Tower
/Two people have been arrested in Texas in connection with the recent theft of copper from a radio tower in Hugo, Oklahoma last month. The Choctaw County Sheriff said that the two were identified by scrap yard employees in Paris, Texas, where one day after the 15th January incident, they tried to sell copper wiring from the coax line. Authorities said that Payne Media Group, the broadcast station's owner, was contacted and confirmed that the copper had come from the tower for KITX, a 50,000-watt station serving southeast Oklahoma and northeast Texas. Paris, Texas, is one of the communities in the station's coverage area.
The station has been live streaming and operating with limited broadcast range following the destruction of the tower. Its guy wires had been cut and its backup generator also was destroyed.
