Oregon man given 2-year prison sentence for stealing copper wire

An Oregon man owes more than $61,000 in restitution after admitting he stole a large amount of copper wire from an irrigation pump station near the Snake River.

Orin A. Whitbeck, 51, of Irrigon, was sentenced last week in Franklin County Superior Court to two years in prison.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month to first-degree theft, acknowledging that damage to the property was more than three times the value of the stolen commercial wire.

Officer Chad McGary was on duty for the Washington state Department of Fish & Wildlife the morning of Jan. 15, 2014, when he came upon a vehicle parked near the roadway on the Pasco-Kahlotus Highway, according to court documents.

A woman was alone in the vehicle, which had an Oregon license plate. She told McGary that she was out of gas and her boyfriend had gone to get some.

At that point, Whitbeck came out from behind a potato shed, identified himself, and said a friend was coming with some gas, documents said.

McGary left the scene but was notified a short time later by the Washington State Patrol that Whitbeck had an outstanding warrant out of Kennewick. The officer returned to the area and found Whitbeck driving the SUV, so he stopped it and waited for a warrant officer to arrive.

Whitbeck looked through the vehicle’s windows and noticed a blanket covering the whole back of the SUV. He noted in court documents that it looked like it was covering something.

Asked what was in the back, the woman said she was moving, opened the back door and gave the officer permission to look, documents said.

McGary lifted the blanket and found “a large pile of wire” that appeared to have been cut several times.

Whitbeck admitted at the scene that he had stolen the wire from an irrigation pump station. He removed the wire from the SUV and placed it in the Fish & Wildlife officer’s patrol vehicle.

The manager of the pump station said he wanted to press charges against Whitbeck.

The restitution ordered Tuesday is $58,558 to an Idaho company to cover the insurance claim and $2,500 to Flat Top Ranch in Prescott for the insurance deductible.

Whitbeck was told he can serve the Franklin County sentence along with an Oregon prison term he’s been serving since March 2014 for two counts of possessing stolen vehicles and possession of methamphetamine.

His criminal history also includes possessing and manufacturing controlled substances, burglary and theft. A majority of his crimes are out of Oregon’s Umatilla and Morrow counties.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Oregon man given 2-year prison sentence for stealing copper wire."