TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A man has been arrested, accused of stealing more than $20,000 worth of copper from the EOAS building construction site on FSU's campus.
Edward Bivins, 47, of Gretna has been arrested on 57 charges related to grand theft, burglary, and fraud.
According to a probable cause document, the FSU Police Department was called to the EOAS building construction site on FSU's campus in the 700 block of North Woodward Avenue on June 8.
Multiple witnesses said a man wearing all black was throwing copper pipe from the upper floors of the building. Once confronted, witnesses said the man pulled a knife on one of the construction employees before jumping a fence and running towards Academic Way near the Love building.
When officers arrived, documents say, they saw large sections of copper pipe on the ground that had been thrown from the upper floors of the site. Police were unable to identify a suspect that day, but, after speaking to the construction supervisor, they determined that copper had been going missing for weeks.
According to court documents, a review of surveillance footage revealed an unknown suspect had been trespassing and stealing pipes since early April. The footage captured a suspect trespassing more than 20 times with the latest incident occurring on July 2.
Investigators wrote that the suspect went to the same area of the building each time, usually between 10 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. in a "repeatable, predictable pattern."
On July 13, police were at the construction site when a suspect entered the construction site. Documents say the man tried to hide and run away, but officers quickly apprehended him.
While at the jail, officers learned that Bivins drove a car to the site. When they searched the car, they found a large amount of tools commonly used for heavy metals.
Documents say investigators also checked North Florida Pawn records and found Bivins had pawned pure copper at shops in Tallahassee and Midway 42 times between Jan. 25 and July 13. In total, Bivins pawned 4,651 pounds of copper for a total of $11,408.20.
When officers contacted the construction company about the thefts, they said the actual value of the stolen copper was $28,417.61.
Probable cause documents say cell tower records further corroborated the evidence that Bivins traveled from his Gretna home to steal copper from the FSU construction site at least 14 times.
Based on the evidence, Bivins is facing 21 counts for dealing in stolen property, 19 counts for defrauding a pawnbroker more than $300, 14 counts of burglary, two counts for defrauding a pawnbroker less than $300, and one count of grand theft more than $20,000.
