St. Louis man tells police NCIS agent told him to steal electrical transformer
By Pat Pratt
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ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — A St. Louis man is accused of stealing electrical transformers and selling them for scrap, telling police in one case an individual with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service told him to do so.
St. Louis circuit attorneys on Saturday charged 43-year-old Vincent A. Groves with two counts of tampering with service of a utility, two counts of first-degree property damage and stealing over $750.
Court and jail records show he was arrested and booked Friday. He was issued a criminal summons to appear in court Jan. 2 to answer the charges.
According to a St. Louis Police probable cause statement, Groves was linked to the theft or tampering with of three electrical transformers in the city. An investigation showed he was dismantling the devices in his backyard and selling them for scrap.
In the first incident, Groves is accused of taking a transformer on July 11 in the 1200 block of St. Louis Avenue, which was left by the utility company next to a pole as it was scheduled to be installed.
According to the statement, when police questioned him about the theft, Groves told officers an individual from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service told him to do so.
On Nov. 15, police found a utility pole in the 2800 block of Magazine Street damaged and the transformer missing. A witness told officers they saw two men pull up in an SUV, cut the pole down with a saw and take the device.
The following day, police found another pole cut down and the transformer taken. Police were able to use a description of the SUV to locate Groves, who was identified as the suspect in a photo lineup, the statement reads.
Police said in charging documents the transformers contain a large amount of oil inside, and a large amount of spilled oil in Grove’s backyard indicated he was emptying the devices before selling them.
Receipts for hundreds of pounds of metal and copper sold at a recycling center were discovered in Groves possession, the statement reads.
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