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A man has been arrested on multiple charges after allegedly stealing a $900,000 air conditioning system from a Durham elementary school for scrap metal.
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William Leroy Jenkins, 38, of Durham was arrested Tuesday on five charges, including felony larceny, in the Aug. 29 incident, court records show.
Jenkins is accused of conspiring with another man to steal Glenn Elementary School’s cold-water air-conditioning system, according to a search warrant in the case. Surveillance footage captured the pair loading aluminum coils and pipes into the back of a truck between 4:23 a.m. and 5:28 a.m. Aug. 29, the warrant states.
Durham County sheriff’s deputies matched a white Chevrolet GMT-400 truck in the footage to tickets from a local scrapyard, according to the search warrant. Video from the scrapyard allegedly showed the same pair from the school selling scrap metal, including a transaction hours after the theft that included the same type of coils taken from the school’s system.
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Investigators used facial recognition technology to identify the men seen on the footage, the search warrant says. Jenkins and the other man, whom The News & Observer is not naming because he has not yet been charged, were neighbors of the truck’s owner.
Jenkins allegedly used another man’s state ID card to sell the scrap metal.
Jenkins is also facing unrelated charges in an Aug. 16 incident where he allegedly stole a $200,000 air conditioning system from Avioq, an in vitro diagnostic medical device manufacturer in Research Triangle Park, court records show.
Jenkins remained in the Durham County jail with his bail set at $100,000 secured each in both cases, according to court records.
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