Workers doing repairs in a tunnel below St. Paul’s High Bridge this week found copper wire had been stolen, causing $75,000 to $100,000 in damage.
When employees returned to the tunnel system Tuesday, a mechanic saw two people in the tunnel. Police responded, monitored three exits to the tunnel and arrested two people who exited.
Hadi Nora Marshall, 38, of Scandia, and Joseph Austin Montean, 35, of Forest Lake. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County sheriff’s office)
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office on Wednesday charged Hadi Nora Marshall, 38, of Scandia, and Joseph Austin Montean, 35, of Forest Lake with aiding and abetting damage or theft of wire or cable and possession of burglary or theft tools.
Officers saw the pair exit near Shepard Road, and drop a collapsible ladder and backpack, according to criminal complaints. When officers arrested them, Marshall said, “We’re medics!”
Police found a reciprocating saw, bright yellow reflective clothing and a Nomex-lined glove in Montean’s backpack, the complaints said. Nomex is a flame-resistant material. There were a pair of wire cutters and a combustible gas detector in Marshall’s backpack, according to the complaints.
Marshall said she is an urban explorer and that people check in when going into tunnels; if they don’t check out, she goes to look for them, the complaints continued.
She and Montean said they went in the tunnel to look for a missing person named Cassandra. Marshall said they encountered scrappers; she said they had not stolen copper from the tunnels.
Neither of their backpacks had medical supplies or equipment, the complaints said.
Xcel Energy employees went in the tunnel system after the arrests and didn’t find anyone else.
Police asked Montean about the saw in his bag and he said they found it “down there,” the complaints said. There was a small piece of copper wedged on the saw.
Marshall and Montean are scheduled to make their first court appearances on Thursday. Attorneys for them weren’t listed in their case files as of Wednesday afternoon.
Accessed another tunnel
Xcel Energy workers were doing repairs because of stolen copper in a tunnel below the Smith Avenue bridge on Monday. They returned Tuesday to continue repairs and that’s when a mechanic saw two people in a utility tunnel.
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One wore a yellow construction safety vest and the other shined a flashlight at the mechanic. The two people turned and walked in the other direction.
Xcel employees later found that someone had dug through the ceiling of their sandstone tunnel and accessed a tunnel above theirs that contained wires belonging to another service provider.
The damage was new and hadn’t been there when they left Monday night. Below the hole in the ceiling were carts and two-wheeled dollies. Copper wire that had been cut from Xcel Energy and other systems was strapped to the carts.
In an effort to further address copper wire theft, the Legislature passed new measures this year that will require people to obtain a state-issued license to sell scrap copper; people with a license to perform electrical work will be excluded.
