The VIPD has not provided a mugshot of Caleb Browne.
ST. THOMAS — A man accused of stealing copper wiring from a closed annex of the Bureau of Corrections is now facing felony charges before the V.I. Superior Court.
On Friday, police were dispatched to Sara Hill in Subbase upon receiving reports of a man in dirty clothing and mismatched shoes stealing copper wires from a Bureau of Corrections building.
Responding officers conducted an inspection of the area and came across a man later identified as Caleb Browne. Police also discovered two black chairs latched together into a makeshift cart, upon which were large pieces of copper encased in rubber hosing.
Browne initially told police that the items were not his, but as officers prepared to take the defacto cart and its contents away, he then said that he had retrieved the items from a dumpster. He declined to answer officers’ questions about which specific dumpster he had found the material, only telling them that he was a sovereign citizen and had done nothing wrong.
A review of surveillance footage reportedly showed Browne removing the wires from the BOC Annex, and officers decided to arrest him for grand larceny. With Browne reportedly refusing to cooperate, police say they had to first wrestle him into handcuffs and then — with the help of a bystander — into the police vehicle.
Browne was charged with larceny, possession of stolen property, and resisting arrest, and remanded into the custody of the Bureau of Corrections. His advice of rights hearing was scheduled for Monday morning before Magistrate Simone VanHolten Turnbull, however as of press time no record of the outcome of proceedings has been made available to the public.
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