Two Knox County Men Arrested After Cable Copper Theft

From The Knox County Ky Sheriff's Department -

Sheriff Mike Smith reports that over the last few days, the sheriff's office received multiple complaints of copper wire theft belonging to Windstream and Spectrum in the Stinking Creek area of the county.

On Monday, April 6, 2026 at 6:51 pm Knox County deputies led by Sgt. Jesse Smith recieved tips about individuals involved with the thefts. The deputies traveled to a Mills Creek road residence where 33-year-old Chris Brown and 49-year-old William Collins had been staying.

Found at the home in the back of a red pickup truck (identified in several tips), was metal tubing and burned plastic. The property owner then gave verbal consent to search the property. Found behind a building were blue barrels containing burned metal piping and plastic conduit used to hold the stolen copper wire. Brown admitted to Sgt. Smith that "he might of took a little copper."

Both Brown and Collins were taken into custody. An search incident to arrest revealed that Collins had a clear bag of suspected Methamphetamine in a watch pocket.

The pair were lodged in the Knox County Detention Center charged with theft by unlawful taking $10,000 to $1,000,000 and criminal mischief - 1st degree. Collins was additionally charged with possession of controlled substance - 1st dgeree - 1st offense (Methamphetamine).