Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Michael
J. Weston of Milo, Maine was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to 1½ years
in prison and 3 years of supervised release for damaging property of an energy facility. He was
also ordered to pay $43,236 in restitution. The charges arose out of Weston’s theft of copper
wire from substations owned by Emera Maine, formerly known as Bangor Hydro Electric
Company.
According to court records, in 2010 and 2011, Weston cut holes in fencing or cut locks to
break into substations at Brooksville, Derby, Enfield, Milo and Orrington and stole hundreds of
pounds of copper ground wire from the facilities. Over that period, Bangor Hydro was the
victim of theft at about 19 of its substations. According to Bangor Hydro officials, it is
extremely dangerous for anyone without experience with electricity to enter the fenced areas of
its transmitting substations and remove wire. Weston sold the stolen copper wire to Chester
Gray’s Salvage Yard in Corinth, Maine.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Maine State
Police and the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
