Copper caper cousins get plea deals in Duke Energy wire thefts

Two area men who apparently got a charge out of stealing copper wire from Duke Energy substations in Putnam and Hendricks counties were powerless to avoid further time in prison Thursday.

During separate hearings in front of Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley, cousins James David Flatt, 29, Martinsville, and Robert J. Flatt, 46, Indianapolis, accepted plea agreements in a series of 2011 burglary and theft cases in which they cut ground wires and made off with the copper wiring.

A third man, James Flatt's son, Justin J. Flatt, 21, Indianapolis, had pled guilty in an earlier court appearance in the same case.

Both older suspects pled guilty Thursday morning to two counts of burglary, a Class C felony. In return, three counts of theft, a Class D felony; a third count of burglary and a charge of criminal mischief, a Class D felony, were all dismissed.

The men are also responsible for making restitution of more than $18,000 to Duke Energy for theft of the wire and damage to the substations.

Judge Headley first dealt with James David Flatt, giving him a four-year sentence, two years executed (through Community Corrections if he qualifies) and two years suspended.

Earlier in the morning Robert Flatt had been given a jury trial date of Sept. 25. But when his cousin later pleaded guilty and was set to be called to testify at the trial, the defendant moved quickly to get public defender Trudy Selvia to work out the same plea agreement his cousin had received.

As court was adjourning, Robert Flatt raised his hand from the back of the courtroom, caught Judge Headley's attention and had what amounted to an impromptu change of mind hearing.

Headley took Robert Flatt's spur-of-the-moment plea agreement under advisement, setting sentencing for Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. via video from the New Castle facility.

Both Flatts are already serving time in the Indiana Department of Correction on similar convictions out of Hendricks County.

"So you were going around to substations, clipping off wires, and didn't care what county you were in," Judge Headley summarized as discussion focused on whether the cousins were being punished for the same "crime spree," as public defender Sid Tongret termed it, for which Hendricks County had already sentenced them.

James D. Flatt is currently incarcerated at the DOC facility in Franceville with a release date of Nov. 16, while cousin Robert J. Flatt has been serving time at the New Castle prison with a release date of May 22, 2014 in the Hendricks County cases.

"As a person who doesn't know much about electricity," Headley asked, "how did you keep from getting yourselves fried?"

James Flatt explained that they only clipped off the ground wires, not the hot wires at the electrical power sites.

The men were implicated in thefts of copper wire from Duke substations in Putnam County incidents occurring between April 1 and May 19, 2011.

The area substations hit were Barnard on State Road 236, east of Roachdale; Coatesville, on County Road 750 East; Russellville, on County Road 725 West; and Fillmore on County Road 750 East.

The suspects stole nine ground wires at Barnard, an unspecified amount valued at $2,000 at Fillmore, an unspecified amount worth $1,500 at Russellville, and 13 copper-coated ground wires equaling 75-100 feet at Coatesville.

In the Coatesville incident, Putnam County Sheriff's Deputy Don Lewis noted in the probable cause affidavit that the suspects "had to be there quite a while because a lot of the cable was underground and had to be pulled up out of the ground."

The investigation turned thanks to two instances in which Duke security cameras caught two of the suspects on film.

Putnam authorities were able to compare those photos with pictures from the Hendricks County substation cases. Hendricks Det. Clark Fine positively identified one of the men as James David Flatt, who had as been arrested for a 2010 theft at a Marion County substation.

James D. Flatt was arrested in the Putnam cases on Nov. 29, 2012, while Robert J. Flatt was arrested on Nov. 6, 2012.

The two men were returned to their respective DOC facilities following Thursday's court appearances.