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Crime & Safety

Scrap Copper Wire Swiped in Palmer

Magnetic Windings of Palmer Township has had rough year with thefts.

Magnetic Windings of Palmer Township, which in the last year or so has had to deal with a bookkeeper who stole more than $221,000 and another case involving a counterfeit checks scheme, found itself with a new problem in September.

Company officials discovered that 200 to 300 pounds of scrap copper wire valued at about $900 had been stolen from their facility at 2711 Freemansburg Ave.

With the help of an observant company executive who found pieces of scrap copper in a white van, a Palmer detective mapped a trail that led to an employee of another business owned by Magnetic Windings’ owner.

On Wednesday, the employee – Ryan James Boozer, 29, of 2600 Nazareth Road (Route 248), Palmer, was charged with theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

He was arraigned by District Judge Jackie Taschner of Palmer and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail.

A criminal complaint says Boozer sold portions of the scrap copper on three consecutive days in September at an Easton scrap yard, receiving a total of $550.60 – a little more than 60 percent of the copper’s value.

He identified himself by the last name of "Boozer" on the first two days and the last name of “Borger” on the third day, the complaint says.

Boozer, according to the complaint, was employed by Records Management & Archiving, which is owned by Magnetic Windings' owner Albert J. Marron and is in the same facility as Magnetic Windings.

Another Marron-owned business, Easton Self Storage, is also in the Magnetic Windings facility.

Magnetic Windings specializes in the design and manufacture of custom transformers, power supplies and electronic assemblies for commercial and military applications, the company’s website says.

Records Management & Archiving, according to its website, provides confidential offsite data and records storage, protection and management.

The criminal complaint, filed by Palmer Det. James Taylor, provides the following additional detail:

--Scrap copper produced by Magnetic Windings is stored in the Easton Self Storage portion of the facility.

--On Sept. 20, William Caudill, Magnetic Windings’ vice president of operations, checked a white work van recently driven by Boozer and found the van’s rear in “total disarray.” He also found in the van pieces of scrap copper wire of the same material the company produces.

--Caudill checked a unit where scrap copper is stored and found that about 200 to 300 pounds of the material had been stolen. He told police that Boozer had access to the storage unit.

--On Sept. 25, Taylor located the stolen scrap copper at United Compressed Steel, 802 N. 13th St., Allentown. A company employee said he bought the scrap from Easton Iron & Metal, 1100 Bushkill Drive, Easton.

--Also on Sept. 25, Taylor learned that a person identifying himself as “Boozer” and “Borger” sold the scrap at Easton Iron & Metal on Monday through Wednesday, Sept. 17, 18 and 19.

--A company employee said the person who sold the scrap was driving a white van. Taylor showed him Boozer’s photo driver’s license, and the employee said the man in the photo sold the scrap.

In the other criminal cases involving Magnetic Windings, former bookkeeper Teri Romanishan was sentenced in June to state prison for stealing more than $221,000.

The counterfeit checks case, which surfaced in May, continues to be prosecuted, with at least three people charged and at least eight people suspected of cashing 19 phony payroll checks worth more than $13,000.

The checks contained account and routing numbers from Magnetic Windings. The routing numbers listed a non-existent company, Inspiron, according to court records.

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