Two Turlock men arrested in Merced metal theft

TURLOCK -- Two Turlock men were arrested on suspicion of stealing copper wire, the Merced County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday.

On Friday about 4 a.m., a deputy spotted the Turlock men — Burgiss Brown, 38, and Timothy Beres, 44 — in a pickup near a canal bank in the area of Highway 140 and Tina Avenue, just outside Merced, the Sheriff’s Department said. The man said they were fishing. However, the deputy found 300 feet of copper wire in the truck’s bed, along with bolt cutters.

Authorities said the deputy later learned that five pumps and five pump houses had been stripped of their copper wire. Brown was booked on possession of stolen property, burglary tools, narcotics and a parole violation and remains in jail without bail. Beres was booked on possession of stolen property, burglary tools and conspiracy to commit a crime. He remains in jail on $16,000 bail.