Marion County State's Attorney Matt Wilzbach says taking metal is a crime unless it is clearly trash or abandoned. His comments come following the arrests of several people in the past few weeks for the theft of metal items. 25-year-old Patrick Shipley of Selmaville Road in Salem was formally charged in court Friday with misdemeanor theft of aluminum windows, hubcaps and other scrap metal items from Leon Rothe of U.S. 50 in rural Iuka. Shipley had reportedly taken the items to a salvage yard to sell. Bond was set at $5,000. A public defender was appointed to represent Shipley. Meanwhile, Centralia Police have also filed an arrest complaint Shipley for the alleged theft of a number of steel beams from behind Reading Signs on North Poplar in Centralia. An employee of the company discovered that Shipley had allegedly sold some of the beam to a salvage yard when questioning employees if they had purchased any of the beams. Sheriff's officials arrested 24-year-old Jeffrey Skibinski of East 15th Street in Centralia for alleged misdemeanor theft after he reportedly was found picking up metal from woods near the location of a former school house on Possum Trot Road in Alma. Skibinski was released on $150 bond pending a final decision on charges by the State's Attorney. The State's Attorney's office has elected not to pursue theft charges against three Centralia residents arrested earlier this week for allegedly taking metal from a roll off dumpster in the 300 block of South Elm. Centralia Police say 42-year-old Kevin Berry, 29-year-old Carrie Jo Berry, and 48-year-old Tamara Thomas, all of South Maple Street, had put the metal back when stopped by police and had indicated they thought the metal had been thrown away. - http://goo.gl/r4nUM
