It’s been about a month since the people of West Virginian had their lives turned upside down by the June 29 derecho and had to experience life without power.
In the aftermath of this storm, the majority of West Virginian’s showed their true colors and came together to help each other out.
“The West Virginia State Police witnessed a lot of acts of kindness. People who opened their homes and allowed others to come in and were willing to reach out and help others in their neighborhood,” says State Police Sergeant Mike Baylous. “That’s the way West Virginian’s react when there’s difficult times, that’s the way they’re suppose to react.”
Unfortunately, there were a few people who decided to take advantage of folks during the storm and steal several generators from private companies and individuals across the state.
In a press conference Thursday afternoon, the State Police released the names and pictures of some of the individuals that have been arrested in connection with these thefts so that communities can see those responsible.
Sgt. Baylous says several arrests have been made so far and expects more to be made in the near future.
“We want to bring these people to justice,” says Sgt. Baylous. “There is no excuse for these crimes that were committed.”
A total of 39 generators were stolen during the aftermath of the storm and a lot of them belonged to Frontier Communications.
Bryan Stover with Frontier Communications says the company had numerous generators stolen from across the entire state. He says when these generators were taken, hundreds of their customers were left without phone service.
“A lot of the citizens didn’t have any way to contact emergency services,” says Stover. “If they needed an ambulance, police, fire, for anything, they were out of telephone service because of these thefts.”
Five of those stolen generators have been recovered, resulting in the arrests of nine individuals. Baylous says the arrests came mainly from information received from local community members.
“Residents called our offices and provided tips and information and we followed up on it with good old fashion police work,” says Sgt. Baylous.
A total of 34 generators are still missing in the state along with the individuals responsible for the thefts.
Sgt. Baylous says he is confident that between the investigators working on the case and the people in the community, these suspects will be arrested and the generators will be returned.
If anyone in the public has any information regarding the stolen generators, they are asked to call their local detachment of the State Police or visit www.wvcrime.com.