Thieving Ironton Man Does $100K in Damages to St. Louis Power Station

Did your power flicker last night in south city? If so, it might have been because of the storms rolling through town. It might have also been because of an Ironton man stealing 35 feet of copper wire from a power substation in St. Louis Hills, doing $100,000 of damage in the process. 

Police say that they arrived at the Ameren substation on Chippewa Street around 1:45 a.m. this morning to find Marion Keenan, 61, in his van with the 35 feet of pilfered wire alongside a set of bolt cutters. 

A lock on the chain link fence around the power station had been cut and inside the station itself a significant amount of copper wire had been pulled from the structure. In addition to doing six figures worth of damage, the vandalism interfered with delivery of electricity, St. Louis police say.

Keenan is facing four felonies for burglary, stealing, property damage and possession of burglary tools.

The 61-year-old is already facing similar charges from April when he was busted trying to pull off a heist at a bank on South Grand. He was after the bank's gutters.

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