Two eastern North Carolina men were charged with larceny for the theft of copper wire in Pantego last month.

The crime happened on Jan. 8: two reports of thefts, totaling over 100 feet of control wire from farm irrigation systems on Christian School Road, according to a press release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. During investigation, the sheriff’s office learned that five other counties—Bertie, Chowan, Gates, Martin and Washington—had had similar thefts, said the release.

On Jan. 12, Bertie County law officers let on they had located two suspects in possession wire similar to that stolen and a large quantity of burnt copper wire, said the release.

When the suspects were served with Beaufort County warrants they were incarcerated in neighboring county jails for related crimes. James Walter Johnson, 24, of North Wheeler Street, Merry Hill, was in the Hertford County Detention Center when served on Feb. 15; Joshua Cole Hoggard, 22, of Pine Ridge Road, Windsor, was served on Feb. 18 at the Bertie County Detention Center. Both men were charged with two counts of felony larceny, two counts of injury to personal property and two counts of unlawful transportation of copper.

Maj. Kenneth Watson, spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said the replacement cost far outweighs any scrap value.

“It will cost in excess of $5,000 to repair the machines, but the scrap value of the metal wire was only a couple hundred dollars,” Watson said.