A man charged with stealing almost $1,500 in power from North Arkansas Electric Cooperative remains a fugitive and the company holding his bond has been given until December 12 to apprehend him.
An alias warrant for 29-year-old Avery Robert Lee was issued May 2 when he failed to show up for a scheduled appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court.
Lee was living in a house along Jordan Road in Norfork where the meter base was found to have been jumped using electrical wire wrapped in duct tape.
A serviceman for NAEC discovered the tampering in mid-April 2020.
The last person to have an account at the address was reported to have been Lee’s father. NAEC records show the power had been shutoff for non-payment in early September 2019.
When Lee was initially contacted about the situation, he denied living at the address, but eventually admitted he did live there and also took responsibility for the stolen power.
At the time, Arkansas Public Service Commission (PSC) rules did not permit power to be terminated to an account because of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
It was explained to Lee that once the non-shutoff rules were lifted, he would be responsible for paying for the stolen power and a meter tampering fee. Lee was reported to have agreed.
When the PSC lifted the moratorium on non-payment disconnects, attempts were made by NAEC to contact Lee regarding his situation.
The telephone numbers on the account had been were no longer in service. NAEC staff then reached out to Lee’s sister and she said her brother no longer lived at the address.
She said he was a hard person to contact. NAEC contact numbers were left with the sister in case Lee got in touch with her, but when the report was filed in July last year, he had not been heard from.
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