HAVERHILL — Four people charged with stealing copper piping from 15 houses in Haverhill are heroin addicts who receive disability incomes for depression, investigators said.
The thieves used a van belonging to one of their grandmothers during some of the crimes, investigators said.
The four people — two men and two women — are charged with stealing hundreds of dollars' worth of copper piping and tools from vacant houses.
Joseph Hebert, 26, Walter Winslow, 33, Katilyn Baston, 20, and Jessica Woodsum, 25, all of 28 Webster St., pleaded not guilty in Haverhill District Court yesterday to multiple counts of breaking and entering in the daytime and larceny.
All four defendants are receiving disability incomes for depression, "but they were well enough to do that," Assistant District Attorney John DePaulo said at their arraignments.
He also said the four are heroin addicts.
Detective John Spero, who followed up leads that led to their arrests, said they used a Ford Windstar that belongs to Winslow's grandmother, while they stole copper and tools from vacant houses, some of which were being renovated.
Spero said he obtained information that Baston was involved in a break-in and larceny at a house on Hillside Place. Detective William O'Connell then learned Baston, another woman and a man had pawned stolen tools at the Rockingham Trading Post in Plaistow, according to a report filed in Haverhill District Court. Video surveillance from the pawnshop helped identify the suspects, police said.
Spero recovered numerous Haverhill Salvage and Steel sales slips that indicated Baston and Hebert were selling copper piping and heater grates there on a daily basis, according to the report.
A further investigation led police to Winslow and Woodsum, who are roommates of Baston and Hebert, investigators said. The four also are charged with breaking into EZ Way Cleaners in Bradford and stealing $50 in cash and some shirts.
Baston, Hebert, Winslow and Woodsum were arrested Friday after 9:30 p.m. after being questioned at the police station. Spero said they all confessed to the crimes.
In some instances, DePaulo said, the basements of houses were flooded when the foursome ripped out the pipes. Some of the houses were being renovated and work had to stop because of the destruction wreaked upon them, the prosecutor said. He estimated the damage at "tens of thousands of dollars."
The four are charged with stealing copper pipes and tools from houses on Hillside Place, Vine Street, Varnum Street, Mount Vernon Street, Bellevue Avenue, Bartlett Street, Charles Street, 4th Avenue, Ashland Street and Warren Street.
Besides O'Connell, other officers helping with the investigation were Sgt. John Arahovites, Detective Gary Melanson and Officer Thomas Howell.
Judge Stephen Abany ordered Hebert and Winslow held in lieu of $5,000 cash bail. Baston and Woodsum were held on $500 cash bail.
The arrests were the latest development in police investigations into metal thefts in Haverhill. Last week, police arrested Donald Plourde, 28, and charged him with stealing 14 manhole covers. Plourde sold the manhole covers at an Everett salvage yard, police said.
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