KANSAS CITY — A 39-year-old Cherokee County man has pleaded guilty to one count of damaging an energy facility. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Jeffrey Blake, Scammon, pulled down an electrical pole in an effort to steal copper wire last September, In stealing the wire and pulling down one pole, he accidentally pulled down a second pole at the Heartland Rural Electric Company, knocking a radio station whose tower was at the site, off the air for several hours. Blake was later arrested later when officers found him being held at gunpoint by a property owner who had come home to find Blake on his property and a copper coupling missing from his propane tank. The coupling and the stolen wire were found in the bed of Blake’s pickup, Grissom said. Sentencing is April 30.
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 4 p.m.
