KINGWOOD — A Rowlesburg man is charged with stealing the generators that powered stop lights on a one-lane section of W.Va. 72.
Donald Ray Moats, 39, was in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail Thursday in lieu of $52,500 bond, charged with felony grand larceny and misdemeanor traffic offenses. Moats also has felony charges from 2018 pending.
The stop lights directed traffic through one lane along the Cheat River. The other lane has fallen away. Drivers entering the one-lane section are not able to see whether traffic is approaching from the other side. Preston Sheriff’s Lt. T.E. Mitter said that shutting down the lights created a hazard for drivers. Luckily the outage was during the early morning hours, he said.
According to the criminal complaint by Mitter:
State Division of Highways (DOH) workers went about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to refuel the generators and found them gone. One of the Champion generators had been chained to the light unit and the other was chained to the guard rail.
The chains and locks were gone as well. About 3 p.m. Kingwood Police Officer J.T. Knotts stopped Moats and another man in a Ford Expedition. Moats was arrested on charges of no insurance and driving on a suspended or revoked license. The other man gave police permission to search the vehicle.
In the rear of the SUV, they found a Coleman generator with “on” and “off” written in pink marker, with a red and white pull cord, all as described by the DOH. Beside it was a second Coleman generator with a cut chain and lock, and a pair of bolt cutters.
Moats admitted that he and two other men stole the generators, according to the complaint.
