Caused outages in Greenup, Lawrence, Scioto counties

Greenup County Sheriff Matt Smith has released a still photo of man suspected of stealing copper at electrical substations and knocking out power to thousands of customers in Greenup County in Kentucky and Lawrence and Scioto counties in Ohio.

“Not only has this individual caused hundreds of dollars in property damage to AEP, he has placed our citizens in harm’s way by causing power outages which may prevent someone from calling 911 if they have an emergency,” Smith wrote on Facebook post.

“As in all crimes, the GCSO will not tolerate this type of criminal activity and we are aggressively investigating this incident as a direct attack on public safety.”

Smith has posted photos and video footage of the thefts in an effort to identify the suspect and arrest him.

Anyone with information about the thefts or the identity of the man can call the Scioto County Sheriff at 740-355-8277, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office at 740-532-3525 or the Greenup County Sheriff’s Office at 606-473-7037.