Metal worker arrested for theft
FORT WALTON BEACH — A man who Okaloosa County sheriff ’s deputies say helped steal more than $90,000 from a metal recycling business by falsifying the weight of scrap copper and aluminum has been arrested and charged with grand theft.
The Sheriff ’s Office says Maurice Donell Warren, an employee of Metal Recycling on FIM Boulevard, placed heavier metals like steel on scales when he was supposed to be weighing the lighter metals.
The owner of the business was informed of the possible theft after deputies got wind of it, a Sheriff’s Office report stated. The owner acknowledged that “the business lost well over $60,000 this fiscal year,” according to the report.
Informants were used to get Warren, 42, to discuss how he committed the thefts, the report stated.
Invoices provided by Metal Recyclers identified suspects in numerous cases of copper theft, the report stated. Warren made about $25,000 from the scheme, according to the report.
He was arrested Dec. 19.