A man was arrested last weekend for allegedly stealing copper wire from a PG&E underground power vault in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, police said.
Michael David O’Keefe, 55, was arrested around 5:30 a.m. Saturday for the theft from a vault in the 1600 block of Folsom Street, according to police.
Officers responding to a report of a break-in at the vault saw a suspect running away and that the manhole cover had been removed.
The suspect, later identified as O’Keefe, was arrested with burglary tools in his possession after he violently resisted the officers, police said.
On the sidewalk next to the manhole cover, officers found five high-voltage copper wires that O’Keefe had apparently removed but abandoned while trying to flee, police said.
Investigators later detained a second suspect believed to be involved in the theft but released him because of insufficient evidence, police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said.
O’Keefe was booked into jail on suspicion of theft, possession of burglary tools and resisting arrest.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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