The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department has arrested a man who is accused of stealing electricity for three years.

According to the report, someone called in a tip to the sheriff’s department that 57-year-old Joel Derwin Jones had tampered with his electric box at his house on Recreational Road 255.

Investigator Calvin Starkie and an employee of Jasper-Newton Electric Cooperative went to the house and the report said they found that the box had indeed been tampered with and copper wires byassed the meter and power was going to the house.

The report also noted that power to the house had been shut off since July of 2022 and they believe Jones had been stealing power since that time which came to a total of $5,689.63 worth of electricity.

Jones was arrested and charged with a state jail f

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